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Wading Through the Money Pit

by Cindy Eberting
Reprinted from RTNDA Communicator, all rights reserved, © February 2000

Uncovering who’s filling campaign war chests has never been easier. Reporters no longer have to pore over paper records at the Federal Elections Commission, but can begin digging into a candidate’s contributors right from their desks. They don’t even have to learn all the complicated ins and outs of campaign cash, thanks to nonpartisan organizations dedicated to simplifying the issue-especially for the press. Here’s a look at the most useful resources for reporters tracking campaign cash.

Federal Level

Center for Responsive Politics: One of the main missions of this nonpartisan, nonprofit institute is to link money in politics to its effect on elections and public policy. At the top of its customer list is the news media. Its web site alone (www.opensecrets.org) is deep with information. A detailed financial profile-top contributors, top giving industries, top giving geographic areas, etc.-is available for members of Congress, plus congressional and presidential candidates. The site lists committees congressional members serve on, and explains the committee’s background and legislation it oversees. This helps reporters link politicians to the contributors they reward. Similar financial profiles are available on each state. The site also offers several searchable databases where a reporter can type in the name of a company or individual to see who’s giving what to whom.

A reporter can also obtain help over the phone. If a question takes 30 minutes or less to research, the help is free. Often reporters will call researching a company, industry or candidate and the center’s research staff will slice off a set of data (at 5 cents a record) that the reporter can analyze or have them analyze. Shelia Krumholz, the center’s research director (202.857.0044), is particularly helpful.

The center cleans the data and codes each contributor by their occupation. Be aware of the coding process, which is explained on the site. For example, if a husband and wife give money and he’s a company president and she’s a homemaker, the center tags her money as coming from his company.

Public Disclosure, Inc.: Two former Federal Elections Commission employees run this nonpartisan group in Washington. Tony Raymond and Kent Cooper left the FEC, frustrated that it didn’t release campaign finance data in a more usable format. Their public web site (www.tray.com) offers downloadable campaign finance data going back 20 years and has been called “the best massager of FEC fund-raising data” by National Public Radio’s campaign finance reporter. Public Disclosure releases its versions of fund-raising data as soon as the data are filed with the FEC. The site standardizes and codes soft money contributors, but not others. Reporters who know how to work with data will find this site an excellent resource. Public Disclosure also has searchable online databases and is helpful over the phone. For more, call 202.628.0617.

Raymond and Cooper have helped several media outlets research particular stories, including Business Week’s November 1999 series on the political donation habits of America’s top CEOs.

Also not to be missed are their periodic e-mail updates available to anyone who signs up, which offer great reminders on filing deadlines, data releases and newsworthy soft money transfers.

Federal Elections Commission: This government agency is the original source of data for both the Center for Responsive Politics and Public Disclosure. Although the other institutes make the data more user-friendly, the FEC is still one of the only places where reporters can find electronic image files of contribution reports (www.fec.gov). These images are the key to helping reporters track the flow of soft money from the national parties into their state, an issue of increasing interest in the 2000 election. The FEC’s data guru, Bob Biersack (202.694.1250), can help reporters with this story.

State Level

National Institute on Money in State Politics: This nonprofit, nonpartisan group based in Montana makes state-level campaign finance data more available (www.followthemoney.org). In some cases, it is building computerized contribution databases in states with information still on paper. In other cases, it is enhancing a state’s computerized databases. These state databases will be combined into one large database where reporters can research political contributions across state lines. Plans are also in the works to combine the institute’s state-level data with federal data from the Center for Responsive Politics to provide an even wider view of campaign funding. The institute sells its databases to reporters for 5 cents a record. Call Samantha Sanchez at 406.449.2480.

Campaign Finance Information Center: This program of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., offers a web site (www.campaignfinance.org) where reporters can find what’s available in their state. It includes information from official state agencies and outside groups. Staff members have worked with data from several states and can help reporters (573.882.1982).

Digital Democracy: This annual report published on paper and online by the Center for Responsive Politics details what’s available in each state, along with contact information (www.opensecrets.org/pubs/digdem/).

California Voter Foundation: This nonpartisan, nonprofit group released its nationwide survey in early December on the progress of Internet disclosure on campaign finance at the state level. The report, available online at www.digitalsunlight.org, ranks each state.

For story ideas: Several of the organizations mentioned above offer e-mail reminders or story databases filled with campaign finance story ideas. Here are a few:

• IRE’s campaign finance story database culls newspapers archives daily for campaign finance stories. Stories are searchable by headline subject, author and state, and are stored locally so reporters can read them and avoid newspaper archive costs (www.campaignfinance.org/searchstories.html).
• The Center for Responsive Politics’ Monday Alerts are e-mail bulletins focusing on special-interest legislation in Washington, noting who’s giving the money and who is getting it. Capital Eye, the center’s free monthly newsletter, is also worth receiving (www.opensecrets.org/alerts).
• Public Disclosure has an online presidential checklist with 62 questions reporters should be asking candidates about their practices with political money (www.tray.com/fecinfo/presques.htm).

For more training:

IRE offers campaign finance workshops combining expert tips on tracking money with hands-on computer assisted reporting training in analyzing these contributions. For more information call 573.882.1982 or check out www.campaignfinance.org/seminars.html. Recent articles of interest on covering money and politics:

• “Follow the Money.” A story by Jeff South, an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, details the differences among the campaign finance data available online. Quill, July/August 1999.
• “Covering Money & Politics: Getting Inside the Issue of Campaign Finance.” Peter Overby, who covers money and politics for National Public Radio, schools readers in Campaign Finance 101, explaining definitions of campaign finance terms, limits to data sources, the latest loopholes and more. Columbia Journalism Review, September/October 1999.
• “Show Me the Money.” A video on money and politics from the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation. The tape shows how to develop money-in-politics stories that relate to your audience and provides story ideas, research techniques and anecdotes from experts to enhance your coverage of local politics.

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