With fundraising lagging expectations, government watchdog group Common Cause has just let go 19 staffers and cut $2 million in spending. The cuts leave the group's Florida and New Jersey chapters without paid staff, and trimmed the national office payroll by 12.

The group realized several months ago that it was unlikely to meet the $13 million budget it had for the fiscal year that ends in June, said the group's spokeswoman, Mary Boyle. The budget woes reflect both the competition for funds during an election year and a more severe than expected economic downturn.

The shortfall is the latest setback for the group, begun in 1970 by former Health Education and Welfare Secretary John Gardner to be a citizens lobby to counter the power of special interests. Two years ago, the group hired former Rep. Bob Edgar, D-Pa., to help restore some of the funding and prestige lost as new groups took up similar issues.

Read Edgar's announcement on the cuts. Common Cause Statement.pdf

Ironically, the money woes arise even as the group's signature issue - government ethics and campaign finance reform - have been making something of a comeback, with President Obama issuing new rules for lobbyists dealings with his administration and new campaign finance reform being introduced in the Congress. Boyle said the group intended to be an active participant in these issues at the national and state levels.

The group's national office still has a staff of 54, she said, and the cuts were made "to allow us to keep working on key issues important to us," including public financing measures in Maryland and Wisconsin. The group has also added staff recently in Hawaii and Michigan, and plans to add staff in Ohio and Illinois.

                                                                                                             -- Julie Kosterlitz