Posts tagged as:

political money

OpenSecrets: How to Find the Political Money

by John Richardson on February 28, 2009

Open SecretsAs 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.

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POP QUIZ: Corruption in Congress

by John Richardson on February 11, 2009

Wall Street’s Investments on Capitol Hill

Pop QuizIt’s Wednesday. Time for a pop quiz.

I know, most of you are already whining like school children but trust me, when you read these few questions, your should be forthcoming.

Let’s get started. Shall we?

  1. Can Congressional representatives properly oversee the bailout of the financial sector when they get hundreds of thousands of dollars from the banks receiving hundreds of billions in public support?
  2. Is it a potential conflict of interest for members of Congress to own stock in the companies that they are overseeing?
  3. Is disclosure of political contributions by bank to Congressmen and Senators sufficient when hundreds of billions of taxpayer money are involved?

Okay, time is up. Put down your pencils.

If you think this is an academic exercise, you are wrong. These are questions that every American should consider since these are real problems in Congress today.

Yesterday, the Center for Responsive Politics posted an interesting story on their Open Eye blog about the contributions received by member of Congress from the banking industry. Their findings were shocking. Here is an excerpt from the story:

The eight CEOs testifying Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee about how their companies are using billions of dollars in bailout funds may find that the hot seat is merely lukewarm. Nearly every member of the committee received contributions associated with these financial institutions during the 2008 election cycle, for a total of $1.8 million. And 18 of the lawmakers have their own personal funds invested in the companies.

All of the companies represented at the hearing have received millions, even billions, from the government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America, State Street Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. These companies’ PACs and employees gave $10.6 million to all members of the 111th Congress in the 2008 election cycle, with 61 percent of that going to Democrats.

It was noted in the piece that68 Congressional representatives sitting on the finance committee overseeing the TARP program received approximately $1,848,803 in contributions from the financial services industry.

As we have noted in previous posts at Global Investment Watch, political contributions by financial service companies and corporations as a whole are not a new phenomena. As companies and regulators develop better risk models for doing business, we must reconsider the political risks associated with their business activities. As the core of this political risk assessment is how Congress receives money from the very businesses they oversee. It’s not just about disclosure and transparency. Being honest about the disclosures is only the first step.

At the end of the day, preventing this sort of sanctioned corruption must be stopped. What do you think?

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