Tracking Money in State Politics: Who Do You Want to Investigate?
4 May 2008With a name like National Institute on Money in State Politics, you can imagine the possibilities, and they are realized on this site.
The National Institute on Money in State Politics is the only nonpartisan, nonprofit organization revealing the influence of campaign money on state-level elections and public policy in all 50 states. Our comprehensive and verifiable campaign-finance database and relevant issue analyses are available for free through our Web site FollowTheMoney.org. We encourage transparency and promote independent investigation of state-level campaign contributions by journalists, academic researchers, public-interest groups, government agencies, policymakers, students and the public at large.
It would be easy to spend hours on this site, exploring all the different analytic possibilities, reading the special reports, and investigating your “favorite” Alaskan legislators and politically influential industries. For example, the state overview feature allows you to view money given to candidates and committees in Alaska in a particular election. You can see state totals as well as for specific races and candidates. Money is broken down into top contributors, industries, political parties, and candidates. Here are some Alaska examples for the 2006 election cycle:
- Total contributions: $15,135,994
- Top contributor to candidates: John Binkley, $586,000 (presumably spent financing his own run for governor against Palin)
- Top contributions by industry: Energy and Natural Resources, $2,184,677.
- A special report on money and influence in the Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission
There is so much on this site it is really difficult to choose what to discuss. I urge you to go to it yourself and poke around. You will not be disappointed.