Stephen Spaulding

Stephen Spaulding is an expert on democracy matters, including campaign finance, voting rights, ethics, Congress, Senate rules and political participation. He served most recently as Special Counsel at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to Commissioner Ann Ravel. Stephen has appeared widely on television, radio and in the press, including CBS' 60 Minutes, NPR's All Things Considered, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, and many shows on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News. His analysis has been quoted by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Salon, POLITICO, Slate, USA Today, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Hill and Roll Call (among others) about matters concerning Congress, campaign finance, Senate rules, ethics and voting rights. He is the co-author of several reports for Common Cause including "Bullies at the Ballot Box," "The New Nullification at Work," and "Did We Fix That?," and his writing has appeared in Salon, Politico and The Hill. Before joining Common Cause, Stephen was a litigation associate at Goodwin Procter LLP and a law clerk in the Office of Legal Counsel to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. Before attending law school, Stephen was a trial preparation assistant in the Rackets Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, where he worked on corruption and racketeering investigations. Stephen earned his B.A. in political science from Haverford College and his J.D. from Boston College Law School, where he graduated cum laude and served as editor-in-chief of the Boston College Journal of Law and Social Justice. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Massachusetts.