Bill Allison presents during the free business journalism workshop, "Follow the Money -- Tracking Companies' Influence on Politics."
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2. A Washington tale…
— Bank of America increased
the interest rate on Bonnie
Rushing’s credit card from
8 percent to 23 percent.
— Sen. Thomas Carper: “But
let me just ask you -- put
yourself in the shoes of the
credit card company…”
3. — And how do the credit
card companies feel
about Sen. Tom Carper?
— Rushing’s monthly
interest bill went from
about $150 to $674
— Small change to a U.S.
Senator’s campaign
committee…
5. Happens at state level…
— You may recall Gov. Rick
Perry
— Texas Tech fund
rewarded donors
— They gave in $32K-$310K
range
— They got millions back
6. …and at the local level
— Donors gave Kasim Reed
campaign contributions
— Insiders raised money for
Reed’s mayoral
campaign
— Airport concessions
awarded to…
— Big donors to Reed’s
campaign
— Big fundraisers for
Reed’s campaign
7. Multiple means to exert influence
— Hire former staffers as
lobbyists
— Hire former lawmakers,
councilmen, etc.
— Contribute to inaugural events
— Give money to lawmaker
charities
— Give to super PACs
— Hire relatives of elected
officials
8. Politicians have lots of pockets
— Campaigns
— Parties
— Leadership PACs
— Nonprofits
— Businesses & investments
— Super PACs
— Family members
9. Businesses can pick the pocket(s)
— Lots of places to look
— We’ll suggest some
resources
— Not all this money can be
traced
— Sometimes, you need
sources
10. One thing to remember is that all of
this is governed by rules
— Federal election law, lobbying
disclosure, congressional ethics
rules
— 50 sets of state rules
— Some local jurisdictions have
rules specific to them
(sometimes dependent on state
law)
11. — In Colorado, corporate and labor donors are banned, except
when they aren’t
— Colorado Springs is the largest home rule municipality in
Colorado
12. Let’s look at the federal level
— (inflation adjusted) — (not inflation adjusted)
— Up to $2,500 per election — Up to $5,000 to a Political
to a candidate, that is, Action Committee per year
$2,500 for the primary, — $10,000 to state, district &
$2,500 for the general local party committee (for
— $30,800 to a national party use in federal elections,
committee (RNC, DCCC, that is) (combined limit)
etc.) — Unlimited amount to super
— Up to $117,000 every two PAC for eligible U.S. donors
years to PACs, parties,
candidates…
13. …but potentially a lot more if
they have a lot of friends
— Bundlers put together
networks of donors, all of
whom can write $500,
$1,000 or $2,500 checks
to campaigns
— They are important at all
levels
— We find bundlers at
presidential,
congressional, state and
probably local donors…
14. Unfortunately…
— While bundlers are bigger
than ever…
— No requirement at federal
level that they be disclosed
— You can always ask a
campaign “who the finance
committee is”
— But there’s no place to ask,
“Is CEO of this company a
bundler”
— Only one searchable (but
limited) resource…
15. — As part of the Honest
Leadership and Open
Government Act of 2007
— Registered lobbyists must
disclose the bundling of
contributions they do for
federal candidates
— Applies to individuals
they bring to fundraisers,
PACs they control or
persuade to contribute
— All bundles over $16,200
are reported
— Data available at http://
influenceexplorer.com/
fec/bundling
16. Easy to get around disclosure
— We see tons of invites like
this one
— Hosts commit to raise money
— Vast majority don’t show up
as bundlers
— Even when they’re lobbyists
17. What a business can do
— Form (and pay
expenses of) a political
action committee
— PACs can contribute
$5,000 per election (i.e.,
primary, general) to a
candidate; $15,000 to a
national party
committee; $5,000 to
state, district or local
parties per year; $5,000
to other PACs per year
— Funds must be
“segregated” from
other corporate money
18. Note this language…
— Where are corporations like ExxonMobil and
Imperial Oil, and labor unions as well, making
contributions?
20. …and to Super PACs
— Mostly individual donors
— Few businesses show up
— But individuals run
companies
— Have interests before
government
21. Hire lobbyists
— Lobbyists get access
— Lobbyists are also
contributors
— Federal disclosure at
InfluenceExplorer.com,
OpenSecrets.org
— State disclosure spread
over 50 state websites
22. Lots of lobbyists do lots of
fundraising
— Party Time tracks
fundraisers
— Lots of invitations
list “hosts”
— Hosts can be PACs or
lobbyists that
pledge to raise
money
23. Donate to inaugural committees
— All states have different
rules
— Sometimes donors can
give more
— Enron gave lots to
Bush’s Texas inaugural
— 501(c)4s most common
vehicle
— Don’t have to disclose
donors
— Check Guidestar.org
24. Pay for junkets
— Not always easy to
trace
— Disclosure for
Congress, Executive
Branch
— States, localities vary
25. Where do you get information?
— Federal
— Primary — State
— FEC.gov — Primary
— House Clerk — State election authorities
— Secretary of Senate — State ethics commissions
— Secondary — IRE has a resource for
finding them
— OpenSecrets.org
— Secondary
— InfluenceExplorer.com
— Followthemoney.org
— NICAR
— Influenceexplorer.com
— NY Times
— Local
— Can be city clerk, state
ethics commission, etc.
26. Some other things to check…
— Trip reports/junkets
— Personal financial
disclosures
— Does the business you’re
looking at have a
charitable arm?
— Whom do they give
money to?
— Do they sponsor things
like charity golf games?
27. Some of the forms in
Massachusetts (municipal)
29. www.FEC.gov
— Clunky
— Getting
better
— Still not
perfect
— Original
source of
data
30. Useful features
— Presidential election map — Congressional election
with ZIP-coded map with downloadable
contributions files for every candidate
32. Tons of data…
— Federal candidates
1987 to present
— PACs 1997 to present
— Lobbying 1998 to
present
— Trips, financial
disclosure and much
more…
— You can buy custom
slices of data from it
42. Note all the different data sets
— State and federal campaign
contributions
— Federal lobbying
— Federal regulatory matters
— Federal grants and contracts (also
has earmarks)
— For top contractors, run-ins with
federal government
— EPA fines
— Federal Advisory Committee info
43. All data can be searched and
downloaded
— http://data.influenceexplorer.com
— Download data in Excel format
44. On the federal level, regulations matter
— Companies comment on them
— Companies lobby on them
— Politicians rail against them
48. National Institute on Money in State
Politics
— Like CRP, it
codes
contributions by
industry
— Covers all 50
states
— It always runs a
bit behind raw
state
disclosures
49. Some good resources for
navigating what’s available
— NIMSP also has a run
down of all state laws on
lobbying disclosure
— National Conference on
State Legislatures has
pages, too
— Groups that do a lot of
lobbying, such as Assoc.
Builders & Contractors,
have lists & links too
50. Always happy to help steer
you to a resource
Bill Allison
Editorial Director
Sunlight Foundation
Ballison@sunlightfoundation.com 202-742-1520 ext 224
@bill_allison