Searching for biz stories in campaign finance data

By Kelly Carr on Mar 13, 2010 in Investigation, IRE, IRE Blog, Tools, TrendingTopic

To stay on top of campaign finance the site FollowTheMoney.org is a must-have search tool.

The site aggregates data to “reveal the influence of campaign money on state-level elections and public policy in all 50 states.” The stats are a great resource for understanding how campaign cash plays out in your local coverage area and how that relates to what’s happening nationally. Plus, the numbers are downloadable and easy to navigate.

An interactive map from FollowTheMoney.org

There are lots of opportunities for tracking data on this site, including learning about campaign finance contributions in your district and sorting through a list of the top 10,000 donors to state and federal political campaigns.

A section called “Recovery Watch” details how many contractors who gave campaign contributions were awarded stimulus money. The database identifies 323 contractors that fell into this category, a relatively small number, but still worth exploring to see if any fall into your coverage area.

It’s also not a bad idea to keep tabs on the special “Names in the News” reports. These databases focus on a particular person of interest and connect their campaign contributions. The most recent one highlighted Timothy S. Durham, who ran an alleged Ponzi scheme.

About the Author

Kelly is the Reynolds Center's Senior Online Producer. She has worked as a reporter for several newspapers, most recently The Arizona Republic, and has been an adjunct professor at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College and holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from West Virginia University. Kelly also was a fellow at The Poynter Institute and a contributing writer for "Cancer Stories: Lessons in Love, Loss & Hope."