Introduction to Campaign Finance Research
In the last five years, some highly reliable nonpartisan, nonprofit Web sites have been developed. These make it easy to follow where state and federal politicians are getting their money, how they are voting and how various interest groups rate their voting records.
The Project Vote Smart site has become so simple that it requires almost no explanation. But students should note that they can actually intern at this organization’s Montana research center on the Divide with expenses paid, and local news media can participate in this effort to open up politics (see the Newsroom).
When you access campaign finance data at Project Vote Smart, it sends you to OpenSecrets.org, the site for the Center for Responsive Politics. Another extremely easy-to-use site, Open Secrets not only allows you to follow individual candidates and donors, it makes it easy to keep up with major events of high interest to readers, such as Social Security reform. When following candidate’s finances, you’ll need to keep in mind what years he or she faced election. The most interesting feature is the “List PAC Contribution” link on the left side of a candidate’s page that lets you bulldoze through PAC donations in a hurry. Just keep clicking on the “+” signs. This is also about the best site for getting up to speed on federal contribution limits.
For state candidates, Project Vote Smart sends you to Followthemoney.org, the site of the Institute on Money in State Politics. It doesn’t have everything the Colorado Secretary of State Elections Center does, but it’s a faster first step. Also, the Institute provides background information on issues of the day in its Newsroom.
The Colorado Secretary of State Elections Center provides contribution details down to quarterly filing reports, Colorado campaign finance laws and the state’s campaign finance complaint log. You can also find directories of lobbyists.