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Sources of Information on Campaign Finance
The contribution of money to political parties and candidates is an
important way in which large corporations and wealthy capitalists
exercise disproportionate influence over politics in the United
States. Until recently, reliable data on the nature and extent of
these contributions has been unavailable or incomplete. In the wake of
the Watergate scandals, stricter reporting requirements on the source
and amount of campaign contributions were imposed on candidates for
federal office. With the Internet, information from these reports
has become more widely accessible. Much campaign money still goes
unreported, and new loopholes are being created with each
election. Nevertheless, the publicly available data on campaign
finance remains an important resource for studying patterns of political
alignment and channels of political influence. Below are some of
the better online sources of data on campaign finance.
-
Political
Money Line (FECInfo).
This is the best campaign finance site. It is run by a former
FEC employee who is doing what the FEC should have done
themselves. Includes data on soft money. Very
interactive: easy to search by candidate, committee, state, or
contributor. Highly recommended.
-
Federal
Election Commission. This is the official site of the
FEC. It provides complete databases of hard money
contributions for each election since 1994, available for
downloading (very large files). Limited interactive
capabilities (mostly summary statistics).
-
Open
Secrets (Center for Responsive Politics). One of the
two main campaign finance watchdog sites. Searchable databases of
contributors and candidates. Highly recommended.
-
Center
for Public Integrity. The other main campaign
finance watchdog site. Less detailed data than the previous
site, but good analysis and summary statistics. Highly recommended.
-
Common
Cause. The clean government citizens' lobby.
Extensive resources on campaign finance and electoral
politics. Excellent soft money database, searchable by
contributor, state, or industry. Candidate profiles and
ratings. Selected data on state-level political
campaigns. Summary statistics and well-researched reports on
various aspects of campaign finance.
-
Public
Campaign. A site dedicated to promoting campaign
finance reform. Good source of information and links.
-
Follow
the Money. This site, operated by the National
Institute on Money and State Politics provides selected data on
contributions to state-level political campaigns. Search
interactively for candidates, contributors, and interest groups
involved in gubernatorial and state legislative races for most
states.
-
Oregon
Follow the Money. Operated by the Money in Politics Research Action Project.
Extensive data on contributors to state-level political candidates
and PACs as well as information of campaign finance reform in
Oregon. Highly recommended.
-
Campaign
Finance Information Center. Extensive resources on
campaign finance. Operated by Investigative Reporters and
Editors organization.
- Mojo
400. Operated by Mother Jones
magazine. Provides biographical
profiles of the top 400 political contributors for each of several
recent years.
Copyright © 2007 by Val Burris
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