Every campaign contribution state and federal since 1989. Bulk and Free.

http://transparencydata.com/

by cjoh • 16 years ago

41 9 16 years ago

transparencydata.com

wtn• 16 years ago

I made contributions to presidential candidates in the last two races. I could find neither in their database.

cjoh2• 16 years ago

Were they above $250?

TNO• 16 years ago

The contributions under $250 is where all the interesting stuff is though as was noted in the last presidential election.

ggchappell• 16 years ago

This kind of thing scares me.

I understand that the website itself is okay; it's just part of openness in government. This is already public information. Making public info available conveniently is a Good Thing.

The problem is with the information itself: there is no context. I'm all for "standing up and being counted", whether by voting, writing an article, or making a contribution. But votes are secret, and articles can give context and explanation, which can be cited later, if ones actions are questioned.

Contributions, on the other hand, are public, but carry no explanations with them. Typically, when dealing with political candidates, both choices are bad (at least a little). We do what we can, choosing the lesser of two evils. But to be on record as making some choice -- necessarily a choice with some negatives to it -- and without any opportunity to explain oneself? Sounds risky.

And it can be very risky. I've seen a couple of situations recently, where a list of contributors was treated as an "enemies list" by someone who opposed whatever they were contributing to. People attempt to shut down businesses, etc. And the victims really have no recourse, no forum in which to explain themselves.

I conclude, therefore, that, in the U.S., or anywhere else with similar laws, making political contributions is a bad idea. My current rule is not to do it. Not ever. And I would advise others to consider acting likewise, as long as our current laws are in place.

samratjp• 16 years ago

Pretty snappy. Googled some random names and cross checked with this - scary how comprehensive this list is. Only a matter of time until some kid's gonna make a Google Earth layer for this :p Wait, make that a twitter mashup.

groaner• 16 years ago

I'm getting some oddball results here with negative contributions:

http://transparencydata.com/filter/#YW1vdW50PSUzQyU3QzEmZm9y...

Are these misplaced contributions actually "against" the candidate (even though I have "for" selected), or did these contributors somehow get money back from the campaign coffers?

jcarbaugh• 16 years ago

Campaign web site software is often poorly written. If you enter a negative number in the amount field you can usually transfer from money FROM the campaign TO your bank account.

Okay, not really. It's probably a refund. Not sure what the exact specifics of the transaction are. We get our data from OpenSecrets.org and they list the same negative contributions on their site.

http://transparencydata.com/filter/#Y3ljbGU9MjAwNiZjb250cmli...

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?name=garber,+do...

startupcomment• 16 years ago

Congratulations on the site! On campaign contributions, though I can certainly applaud and appreciate the need for transparency, I personally have no intention to contribute $250 or more to any candidate, as I do not want that information to enter and forever remain in the public domain. I wonder what kind of dampening effect the disclosure requirements have on political contributions.

Every campaign contribution state and federal since 1989. Bulk and Free.

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