In my book, Driven: A Rita Mars Thriller, my protagonist, Rita Mars searches for the killer responsible for her fellow reporter, Bobby Ellis’s death. She determined there was a political target of the story that got him killed and immediately began the search through available sources as to which groups he might have been investigating and who were their members.
She started at the Federal Election Commission. The FEC maintains a searchable database on its website; the Center for Responsive Politics maintains its own website — opensecrets.org — which is designed to be more user-friendly and includes analysis of FEC data.
For state level races, there is followthemoney.org, a joint project of the National Institute on Money and Politics and the Campaign Finance Institute. The site claims its database documents more than $100 billion in contributions, and more than 2 million lobbyist relationships per year.
Other sites will allow you to drill down at the local level. The Virginia Public Access Project has a database on money and politics including local elections in that state. In California, the nonprofit group MapLight includes data about state and local races on its website, as well as information about national campaign finance. Disclosure requirements vary by state and locality and the federal government offers an online directory.
Even with these multi-level sources, Rita found no easy task. Why?
First, many object to disclosure laws because they believe that such requirements impinge on First Amendment freedoms of speech and association in spite of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA).
Secondly, the Supreme Court determined that disclosure reporting need not occur until the minimum threshold financials provided in the BCRA are triggered. The goal was to ensure that only truly serious candidates would be affected by the disclosure requirements.
And then there are the gaping holes:
- Groups that spend $12,499 or less in a quarter need not disclose
- Outside contractors hired by organizations to lobby have to report work billed at more than $3,000 in a quarter – but that reporting still doesn’t show a full and accurate total.
- The most significant level of underreporting is generally attributed to a carve-out in the law that allows some highly-paid political operatives to avoid disclosing any of their lobbying activities. The law is based on semantics and former office holders label themselves “advisors.” This permits them to avoid registering as lobbyists and so gives them exemption from reporting.
- General meetings with special interest groups need not report their sessions or monies spent in conjunction.
- Grassroots lobby reporting is not mandated.
- In reporting meetings with office holders or government officials, lobbyists indicate only agency or branch of government, not individual names and titles.
- There is no accountability or reporting of retired government officials or office holders as to their lobbying of their former agency of employment
The trail Rita followed is long, convoluted and difficult to find. First, she “fingerprinted” her potential suspects, expanding their profile with contacts, family members and other organizations to which they have contributed. What is the fingerprinting Rita did? She utilized best practices of criminal investigation link analysis and social media analysis. These are complex methods and the links I have provided will give you an excellent overview.
From the fingerprint data, Rita categorized each individual or corporation to determine a similarity to Bobby Ellis’s story. This exercise led her to her short list for in-depth investigation. When you read the book, you’ll see how her search took her down the right path.
** image courtesy of www.datawalk.com
