Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie is among those speaking out against the U.S. campaign finance system: How the Citizens United ruling, limits on individual donations and so-called dark money are shaping campaign strategies the 2016 presidential race.
Source: How Current Campaign Finance Laws Are Shaping The 2016 Presidential Race – The Diane Rehm Show
www.commoncause.org/states/new-york/research-and-reports/polishing-the-apple-examining.pdf.
Polishing the Apple: Examining Political Spending in New York to Influence Education Policy
Money in Politics Research Resources – Common Cause.
Below is a collection of web-accessible resources for researching New York City, State and Federal campaign contributions and additional information.
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The “campaign finance” section of the web site houses all state and local disclosure reports and provides several search features. |
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JCOPE hosts the registration and disclosure reports of New York”s 4,000-plus lobbyists and their clients. Interesting note: New York has the highest lobbyist-to-legislator ratio of any state in the union at 18:1. |
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| NYOpenGovernment |
The site collects public information that has historically been scattered throughout New York State’s agencies or difficult to understand or access. It is also an excellent tool for citizens and activists to follow the money on issues of importance to them. Campaign finance info, lobbying expenditures, charity records, and legislators’ member items are just a few of the items available on NYOpenGovernment. |
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IMSP consolidates state-level campaign finance disclosure reports into a well organized and searchable database. This site offers a wealth excellent information and analysis, however, it looks at the broad strokes. For detailed information the NYS Board of Elections web site (listed above) is the best bet. |
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NYS Assembly homepage. |
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NYS Senate homepage. |
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A publicly searchable database of all the legislation before the current session of the NYS Legislature. |
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The NYS Department of State hosts a web-searchable database of business entity names and can be useful to help identify corporations or limited liability companies that bundle contributions. |
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The Committee on Open Government is responsible for overseeing and advising with regard to the Freedom of Information, Open Meetings and Personal Privacy Protection Laws (Public Officers Law, Articles 6, 7 and 6-A respectively). Among other things they offer sample “freedom of information law” request letters. |
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The New York City Campaign Finance Board oversees all of New York City level (Mayor, City Council, Borough President, etc.) campaign finance records. More importantly they manage and enforce NYC”s landmark public financing program. Their searchable databases is quite advanced and offers numerous useful search functions, including searches by employer name and intermediary (bundlers). |
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NYC Lobbyist registration database. Lobbyists who lobby NYC government have to file with both the State Commission on Lobbying and the NYC Clerk”s office. |
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NYC Board of Elections |
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The New York City Council is the law-making body of the City of New York. It is comprised of 51 members from 51 different Council Districts throughout the five boroughs. |
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The official New York City Web site. Connect to various city agencies. |
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Open Secrets, maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics, is often considered the “vanguard” of the searchable campaign contribution information. And rightly so, they offer detailed information and insightful analysis. However, at times, viewing the actual filings on the FEC web site is necessary. |
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The Federal Elections Commission oversees all federal elections. They offer a searchable database and downloadable data files. |
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Through our projects and grant-making, Sunlight serves as a catalyst for greater political transparency and to foster more openness and accountability in government. Using technology and the power of the internet they aim to strengthen the relationship between citizens and their elected officials and to foster public trust in Congress. |
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MapLight is a brand new site that looks to combine campaign contribution data, lobbying information, and legislative votes to show the influence of money in politics. It currently only has California specific data, but it might be coming to a state near you soon! |
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Fundrace allows you to see who in your neighborhood made campaign contributions in the 2004 Presidential election |
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– See more at: http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4849001#sthash.Bkj5VXWS.dpuf
League of Women Voters of Cortland County 