As part of my job writing for Global Investment Watch and researching for my company – JMR Portfolio Intelligence – I find the need to research political contributions made by individuals and companies. At the federal level, the first place I go is to OpenSecrets.org.

This site, created by the people at the Center for Responsive Politics, is the tool for doing political research. Whether you are trying to figure out how much one of the failing banks is spending on Capitol Hill or just trying to see if crazy Uncle Beamus has given money to Ross Perot, the OpenSecrets website is the place to start.

The staff at the CRP recently published an interesting post on their blog, Capital Eye titled
“Following the money in the Wall Street shakeout? Start here.” While it lays out tips for researching Wall Street companies in the news, it’s practical tips have universal applicability. The site has a terrific database for searching for political contributions. Users can search for information on candidates, donors, industries PACs and a number of other criteria. In addition, the site has a number of useful resources and reports that can give researchers a jump start on their political research. Some specialized features include:

• • • 2008 Presidential Race
    • Industry Profiles
    • Members of Congress
    • Lobbying
    • Congressional Races
    • 527 Committees
    • PACs

In addition, their blog, “The Capital Eye” has regular updates on all things political money-wise. This is a site well worth adding to your research toolbox.

What I find most useful is their Donor Lookup database. Once on the search page, you can search by the last name of the donor or the name of the recipient. You can also filter the data by election cycle, going back to 1998. Using these filters is critical since your searches often produce piles of data that you then need to sort through.

The CRP is very gracious about sharing their data. Their primary ask is that users simply give them recognition as the source of data taken from the site. For skilled programmers and data junkies, they provide API keys, which enable adept users to select data from the OpenSecrets website and import it directly into their own sites.

Political data is critical for understanding the goings on by businesses in America and around the world. OpenSecrets.org is an important tool for gaining a solid perspective on that data.

Today’s update of human rights events around the world.

COLOMBIA: Spurious Cases Against Human Rights Defenders

Six months after human rights defender Julio Avella was put behind bars, a prosecutor reviewing the case threw out the charges against him, which were based on the testimony of former guerrillas and police and army reports, on the grounds that they were “contradictory, incoherent, inconsistent and illogical.” IPS

U.S.: Jobless Angry at Possibility of No Benefits

As governors in nine states, mostly in the South, consider rejecting millions of dollars in federal stimulus money for increased unemployment insurance, there is growing anger among the ranks of the jobless in those states that they could be left out of a significant government benefit. NY Times

BANGLADESH: Dozens missing in revolt

Authorities in Bangladesh continue their search for the bodies of people killed in a two-day revolt by border guards inside the capital, Dhaka. Al Jazeera

SERBIA: UN court acquits ex-leader

Milan Milutinovic, the former Serbian president, has been acquitted of the murders of hundreds of Kosovan Albanians in 1999 by a United Nations war crimes tribunal. Al Jazeera

CHINA: Government rejects US rights criticism

China has rejected US criticism of its human rights record, with state media describing the charges as “groundless, irresponsible and an interference in Chinese affairs”. Al Jazeera

GERMANY: Headscarf Bans Violate Rights

German state bans on religious symbols and clothing for teachers and other civil servants discriminate against Muslim women who wear the headscarf, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch

Today, we focus events in Colombia. As we note in the first update, the U.S. State Department has noted some improvement in human rights in that Latin American country. However, as the following articles note, things are a long way from normal for many of its citizens.

U.S. State Department praises ‘improvement’ human rights in Colombia

A report by the U.S. State Department that was sent to Congress Wednesday praised the improvement of human rights in Colombia, but expresses concern about new paramilitary violence. Colombia Reports

Investigators find mass graves with possibly 1,150 corpses

Investigators of Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office found a number of mass graves in the central Meta department where, according to some locals, 1,150 corpses are buried. Colombia Reports

Rebels Kill Awá Indians as Army Informants

A local group of Colombia’s FARC guerrillas acknowledged that it had killed eight members of the Awá indigenous group, who it accused of being army informants. IPS

Another Illegal Wire Tapping Scandal

Last weekend, Semana news magazine revealed that some agents at the Administrative Security Department (DAS for its Spanish initials), Colombia’s “secret police,” had been illegally wire tapping politicians, journalists, magistrates, intellectuals, and -this time- even government officials close to President Álvaro Uribe, including his private and legal secretaries, and an official from his personal security staff. Even worse, according to the magazine, some of these agents allegedly had been “selling to the highest bidder,” namely guerrillas, paramilitaries or drug traffickers, the information obtained with the illegal phone bugging. Most of the recordings, the magazine says, were destroyed [es] between January 19-21. The story was echoed [es] early Saturday by other media as the magazine was hitting the stores. Global Voices