The National Institute on Money in State Politics
16
2011 Annual Report The National Institute on Money in State Politics
Transcript of The National Institute on Money in State Politics
2 0 1 1 A n n u a l R e p o r t
The National Institute on Money in State Politics
The National Institute on Money in State Politics is primarily supported by foundation grants
that focus on strengthening transparent and accountable governmental policies, judicial
independence, investigative journalism, and informing policy debates on important issues.
We are grateful to individuals who make
tax-exempt charitable donations. The Institute does not
accept donations from political candidates or committees.
It also does not seek grants from corporate foundations.
This makes the support of concerned individuals and
organizations vital to continuing the work.
Thank you!The following foundations have empowered the Institute’s work since it was founded in 1999 as
a 50-state national nonprofit organization.
We are also grateful for donations
from employees participating in Combined
Federal Campaign workplace-giving programs
in Metropolitan Atlanta, the Central Carolinas,
Chicago, Southeastern Connecticut, Delaware,
New Orleans, New York City, North Central
Texas, Alexandria, Virginia, and Norfolk, Virginia.
The California Endowment
Carnegie Corporation of New York
The Energy Foundation
Ford Foundation
JEHT Foundation
The Joyce Foundation
Albert A. List Foundation
James D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Open Society Foundations
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Public Welfare Foundation
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Rockefeller Family Fund
Sunlight Foundation
The Institute is also supported by income
generated from data licensing, data sales,
custom research, and other services for
newspaper reporters, academic researchers
and other nonprofits.
As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable
organization, the Institute complies with all
IRS regulations. IRS 990 and independent
audit reports are posted at FollowTheMoney.
org in About Us: For The Record.
Thank you:
Richard Anderson, Edwin Bender, Gordon
Bennett, Peter Blitstein, Barbara Bonifas, Bert
Brandenburg, Robert Castner, Ken Egan, Andrea
Engleman, Ken Feaster, John Flink, Rosalind Gold,
Deborah Goldberg, Robert Guyer, Keith Hamm,
David Hunter, The Independent Sector, Lawrence
Jessup, Adelaide Elm Kimball, Linda King, Larry
Makinson, Jeffrey Malachowsky, Joseph Maurer,
Geri Palast, Jennifer Peebles, Samantha Sanchez,
Alexander Scarlis, Beverly Weeks, Christine
Wither, Anonymous.
www.FollowTheMoney.org
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Success.At the National Institute on Money in State Politics, we measure success several different ways:
50 states each two-year election cycle (four months faster in 2010 than 2008)
the 12 months, July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011)
A measure of success that’s more difficult to determine is when the use of our state-level
political-donor data results in greater accountability of public officials or a change in public
policy. It’s difficult to measure because outcomes often result after months or years of
effort.
For example, in 2010, the West Virginia Legislature passed public financing for state
supreme court races, to begin in 2012. This policy change came after more than a decade of
work by the folks at the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition to unearth the role campaign
finances—specifically from the coal industry to state lawmakers and judges—played in the
state’s poor stewardship of the industry’s mountaintop mining practices. The Institute’s
data helped coalition members sustain their watchdog efforts, which eventually led to this
first step in restoring public trust in the state’s judicial system.
In another example, the Nevada Legislature this year eliminated some tax deductions
specific to the gold-mining industry after the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
revealed how much the industry had donated to legislators: “The entire mining industry
point to arguments PLAN members have been making for almost two decades, resulting
in much-needed tax revenue at a time of extreme need in the state.
Our decade-long collaboration with the Justice at Stake Campaign, the Brennan Center
for Justice, and others working toward a judicial system independent from political
partisanship has put the Institute’s data at the forefront of several legal skirmishes, and
led to the Institute being cited before the U.S. Supreme Court in three different cases. This
is a measure of success of a different sort.
From all this, we’ve learned that there are no shortcuts to success. It takes patience and
officials and the public policies they decide.
Edwin Bender, Executive Director
Breaking New Ground
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State election campaigns draw billions of
dollars and operate under complex rules
and systems. We have an impact.
The Institute’s in-depth, intimate knowledge
of each state’s campaign finance disclosure
system is essential to evaluating the whole,
to seeing the forest and the trees. Every two
years, we collect all the campaign finance
candidates, 250 political party committees,
to facilitate independent investigation of
possible influence on election outcomes
and policy decisions. Our 50-state database
documents that nearly $21.3 billion was raised
during the 2000–2010 state elections. We
freely offer the information to the public at
FollowTheMoney.org.
2010 elections database showed that
billion in contributions and independent
spending.
20 percent of the total. Five states reported
another $1 billion: Florida $332 million,
Texas $235 million, Illinois $201 million, New
A Mountain of WorkMission: 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 website
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.
Data Acquisition
Team, left to right:
Bill Darcy,
Wendy Kolppa,
Norman Rostocki,
Sara Christiansen,
Maria Kurtz,
Jeff Plaggemeyer,
Shirlene Kuykendall,
Michelle Hoffart
www.FollowTheMoney.org
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another $1 billion.
candidates.
Gubernatorial candidates raised $1.15
billion and other statewide candidates
Legislative candidates raised $1 billion,
million.
High court judicial candidates in 19 states
raised over $20 million, with the No. 1
position shared by Alabama and Texas,
each with $3.2 million.
Appellate court candidates in 15 states
million, and Ohio third at $2.2 million.
Our core operations provide transparency
to all political contributions, as well as
independent spending and lobbying
expenditures in targeted states. RAND
Corporation has evaluated and endorsed
the Institute’s data accuracy and objective
research practices.
An Avalanche of NumbersJuly 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011
gargantuan, publicly accessible, searchable database
billion dollars in contributions and independent spending
million records uploaded
research reports published
lines of code written for the website and research server
industry specific category codes (CatCodes)
API calls
data downloads
customized online tools
unique visitors to FollowTheMoney.org
total page views
average page views per visit
permanent employees
hours/week staff personally answer calls and offer assistance
conferences attended and trainings given
research reports published
collaborative special reports
cites in traditional media
cites in new media
cites in blogs
Facebook fans
Twitter followers
blog posts
newsletter subscribers
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28,258448
1,693,1146,772
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Best Practices. The Institute
surveyed the 2010 political contribution
disclosure practices in each of the 50
states, identified the best practices state
agencies could employ to improve access
to meaningful information, and published
Best Practices for State Campaign-Finance
Disclosure, 2010.
Independent Spending. Our groundbreaking compilation of state-
level independent spending (IS) data found
that just 22 states have both meaningful
IS disclosure laws and good access to
records. In more than half the states there
is no way to determine how much is being
spent, or by whom, or to what end through
independent spending activities. Some
groups are simply refusing to file reports.
Lobbying Expenditures. We conducted a first-ever thorough
assessment of the widely varying
lobbying expenditure data in all 50 states,
then primed our lobbyist expenditure data
with five pilot states (California, Louisiana,
Maryland, Texas, and Wisconsin). Our
ultimate goal is to create the nation’s first
50-state searchable database of lobbying
expenditures, and to make that data
available online for free.
Transparency 2011:Springboard to Action. The Institute’s board of directors, staff, and
national advisors tackled the opportunities
and ramifications of best practices in
campaign transparency, Citizens United v.
FEC, and strategies for promoting more
Collaborations. We love working
with other groups, including this year’s
cooperative ventures with Alliance for a Just
Society, ASU News21, Brennan Center for
Justice, Campaign Finance Institute, Center
for Public Integrity, Center for Responsive
Politics, Common Cause, Investigative
News Network, Justice at Stake Campaign,
MAPLight.org, State Voices, Sunlight
Foundation, and TransparencyData.com.
New Online Tools. Point of
Influence overlays contribution data with
legislative districts to pinpoint the district-
level location of contributors to candidates
for state office. My District upgrades further
contributions from people in your own
district. Lobbyist Link allows anyone to see
connections between lobbyists and their
employers, and to dig deeper to see what
those employers give directly to candidates.
$3.1 Billion … and 54¢
department had collected nearly all of
the available disclosure reports for 2010
elections, totaling an astonishing $3.1 billion
records from the states. We did it four
months faster than for the 2008 election
million of independent spending filed on
INN. The Institute was accepted as
a full member of the new Investigative
News Network (INN), joining more than
50 nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations
that conduct investigative reporting in the
United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. The
journalism that serves the public interest to
benefit society.
The Money Tale. We launched
our team blog to track money in politics
and comment on activities that pertain to
transparency and accountability.
Highpoints of the Year
The Institute
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Creative Commons. The Institute makes its data available via
APIs, widgets, downloads, and hard links, to
encourage citizen accountability efforts.
Corporate Influence. For decades, some of the nation’s largest
corporations have courted thousands of
conservative lawmakers at annual American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
conferences. Our examination of campaign
donations made by ALEC corporate
members dating back to the 1990 election
cycle shows that they contributed $12.2
million to state-level
candidates who were also
ALEC members.
Membership. The Institute
was invited to become a member of
the National Committee for Responsive
Philanthropy, as a charity that reflects
the positive benefit that can result from
increased foundation support for policy
advocacy and services to vulnerable
populations.
Media Citations
ABC News | American Independent | AOL News | Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Boston Business Journal | CBS News | Chicago Tribune | CNBC | CNN Money
Columbus Dispatch | Digital Journal | Forbes | Fortune Magazine | Fox News
Heritage Foundation | Huffington Post | iWatch News | Los Angeles Times
MSNBC | National Journal | Newsweek | NPR | | Politico
Reuters | Texas Watchdog | The Globe and Mail | The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal | USA Today | Washington Post | Yahoo! News
Clockwise from top left:
Kevin McNellis–Researcher;
Robin Parkinson–Researcher;
Beverly Magley–Special Projects
Director; Linda Casey–Lead
Researcher; Anne Sherwood–
Communications Specialist;
Nadeanne Haftl–Researcher.
Not pictured:
Peter Quist–Lead Researcher;
Tyler Evilsizer–Researcher
Experienced. Accomplished.We know the practical dimensions to this
work. Competent researchers use their
expertise to bring numbers to life, sifting
through the complexities of the data to
clearly delineate trends and anomalies. Their
published findings often create a media
flurry. In-depth analyses document the data’s
value for evaluating election outcomes and
pointing out special-interest influence in
public policy decisions.
The Institute published 19 research reports
news citations from media such as USA
Today, CNN, The New York Times, Fox
News, Huffington Post, Reuters and The
Wall Street Journal, as well as bloggers
across the nation. These in-depth studies
and Names in the News analyses call
attention to relationships between political
donors and public policy decisions. We
disseminated the reports directly to 9,381
reporters and subscribers who registered at
myFollowTheMoney to receive information
on particular subjects, states, or elections.
Best Practices. Pertinent Suggestions.Political campaign finance disclosure is
complex, and the rules vary dramatically
among the 50 states. The Institute must
master the intricacies of 50 sets of state laws
(that often change) and reporting schedules.
The Institute surveyed the 2010 political
contribution disclosure practices in each
of the 50 states, and identified the best
practices state agencies could employ to
improve access to meaningful information.
part in our survey. We researched ways to
address the glaring problems, and identified
key areas for improvement where our
suggestions might gain the most leverage.
We published Best Practices for State
Campaign-Finance Disclosure, 2010 on
Focused. Timely.The maelstrom set off by the U.S. Supreme
Court’s January 2010 ruling in Citizens
United v. FEC has consumed those
concerned with fair elections, impartial
courts, and balanced public policy. Lawsuits
continue to be filed challenging strong
disclosure laws in spite of the Supreme
Court’s strong language and 8-1 vote in
favor of disclosure.
It is predicted that the nation will see
a seismic shift in the money spent
independently by special-interest groups.
That is why it is so critical to have
meaningful reporting of electioneering
communications and independent
spending. At present, analysis of
independent spending has researchers
treading a muddy route that seldom
reveals names: trails divide into paths led
by committees with names designed to
obscure their mission. The Best Practices
for Independent Spending report includes
a graphic, Taking the Low Road, that
displays how money in one state traveled
from primary independent spenders, to
political action committees, to specific
2010 campaigns. Multiple committees with
the same treasurer and address moved
contributions across multiple committees
before actually spending funds on activities.
With the 2012 elections rapidly approaching,
and political pop-up ads already being
smeared across web pages, independent
spending by special interest groups can and
will try to distract the voting citizenry from
reasonable debate and common sense
discussions. We continue our push to make
FollowTheMoney.org a household word
for finding facts on which to make well-
informeded decisions about elected leaders.
Engulfed in Researche st tuteThe Institute
ups.
g
s
Selected Research Reports: July 1, 2010–June 30, 2011
www.FollowTheMoney.org
Update on 2012 Presidential Contenders:
State PACs Rev Up the Race, May 16, 2011
Potential 2012 presidential contenders
brought in significant amounts of cash
through state-level committees in 2010.
While the FEC prohibits contributions
over $5,000, several states have no such
restriction. Building on a previous report,
this updated analysis looks deeper into the
amounts both raised and given by potential
presidential contenders through the use of
their state PACs.
High Stakes Justice: 2011 Wisconsin
Supreme Court Race, April 18, 2011
Wisconsin politics again has people sitting
on the edges of their seats as a contentious
Supreme Court race heads for a likely
recount. Institute staff combed through
campaign contributions to Wisconsin
Supreme Court justices from 1989
through 2009, focusing on the individual
contributions to the sitting justices as well as
overall trends in the contribution data.
Propped Up by Anonymous Donors:
Arizona Proposition 106 Wins at the Polls,
Feb. 15, 2011
Arizonans rejected federal mandates on
health insurance in November 2010, when
of the vote. That measure, a legislatively
referred constitutional amendment, sought
citizens buy health insurance. This report
analyzes campaign contributions both for
and against this proposition.
New Politics of Judicial Elections,
2000-2009
by Brennan Center for Justice, National
Institute on Money in State Politics, Justice at
State judicial elections have been
transformed during the past decade. The
story of America’s 2000–2009 high court
contests—tens of millions of dollars—has
become the new normal. For more than a
decade, partisans and special interests of all
stripes have been growing more organized
in their efforts to use elections to tilt the
scales of justice their way. Many Americans
have come to fear that justice is for sale.
Gun Rights Advocates Outgun Opposition
Contributions, Aug. 11, 2010
Second Amendment advocates won several
important victories in the past year, crowned
with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision
in late June that the Second Amendment
guarantees an individual’s right to keep arms
in the home. As well, several states recently
passed gun-friendly legislation.
Names in the News:
Gov. Joe Manchin
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller
Carl Kruger
David and Charles Koch
Alan Hevesi
Independent Expenditure Campaigns in
Iowa Topple Three High Court Justices,
Jan. 10, 2011
Opponents of same-sex marriage in Iowa
first took aim at the state’s seven-member
Supreme Court during the 2010 retention
elections. Throughout the elections, five
out-of-state groups spent nearly $1 million
in independent expenditures on a successful
campaign to unseat three Iowa Supreme
Court justices: Marsha K. Ternus, Michael J.
Streit, and David L. Baker.
Candidate Self-Financing: More Barrier
Than Stepping Stone, Nov. 16, 2010
The Institute reviewed the outcome of races
involving the top 10 self-funded candidates
across the country and found that the poor
return rate on self-investment still holds.
Forbes Magazine’s “Richest Americans”
Influence State Politics, Nov. 8, 2010
The top-20 richest Americans (identified
in Forbes magazine), and their companies,
to state-level candidates and political
committees from 2005 through 2008.
As a group, they gave nearly half ($11.2
million) of all contributions to Republican
candidates and committees, with ballot
measure committees gaining an impressive
35 percent of the total.
Tea Party in the 2010 State Elections: Hot
or Tepid? Oct. 27, 2010
The national conversation has at times
been dominated by the Tea Party narrative
expounding an anti-incumbency sentiment,
upcoming Republican surge. However, the
numbers from state primaries and upcoming
general elections tell a different story.
Update on 2012 Presidential Cont
State PACs Rev Up the Race, May
Potential 2012 presidential contend
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Transparency 2011: Springboard to Action. The
Institute’s board of directors, staff, and
national advisors gathered in Montana to
tackle the opportunities and ramifications
of best practices in campaign transparency,
Citizens United v. FEC, and strategies for
promoting more comprehensive reporting
Summary of
Proceedings encapsulates those dynamic
presentations from civic engagement
and advocacy groups that have used the
Institute’s objective information to create
policy wins in state legislatures, as well
as the discussions among the Institute’s
partners in investigative journalism and
community news reporting.
Cooperation. Collaborations.The Institute makes its political contributions
data available to other nonprofits. Mashups
and powerful tools illuminate trails of
special-interest influence and/or inspire
voter engagement.
OpenGovernment.org uses our data in five
states for government transparency and civic
engagement. They soon will use our lobbyist
expense records on this new one-stop-
shop for information. This nonpartisan,
joint project of the Participatory Politics
Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation
is independent from any government
entity, candidate for office, or political
party. The National Institute on Money in
State Politics is a proud data source for the
OpenGovernment.org initiative.
The Institute examined ALEC member
information recently posted at ALECexposed.
org by the Center for Media and Democracy.
Our researchers cross-checked ALEC-
member names against state-level donor
information to see how much the ALEC
members contributed and received in
state-level political campaigns, and detailed
the compelling findings in a report, Beyond
Dinner and a Movie: ALEC Actively Courts
State Lawmakers.
The Justice Policy Institute issued a report,
Gaming the System: How the Political
Strategies of Private Prison Companies
Promote Ineffective Incarceration Policies,
that extensively cites our data and
contributions given over five election cycles
by three private-prison companies.
The Campaign Finance Institute relied on
data from FollowTheMoney.org to create
Be A Citizen Policy Analyst. Players can find
out if their state’s politics are dominated by
political parties and special interest groups,
or if citizens are running the show.
Alliance for a Just Society sent a research
associate to us to dive into our data, identify
which of our online tools could best serve
AJS, investigate the role of corporate money
in state elections, and disperse widget codes
customized for numerous AJS state affiliates.
The Institute co-authored New Politics of
Judicial Elections, 2000-2009 with Brennan
Center for Justice and Justice at Stake
Campaign, which attracted multiple news
cites, including two in The New York Times.
The U.S. Supreme Court has cited Institute
research in three decisions:
Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission in 2010
Caperton v. Massey Coal in 2009
Federal Election Commission v.
Wisconsin Right to Life
Justice at Stake Campaign, Brennan Center
for Justice, and the American Judicature
Society rely on the Institute’s comprehensive
database of judicial election political
contributions, and our diversity studies
that assess how fundraising and election
outcomes correlate with the racial minority
and ethnic status of judicial candidates.
Information. On Demand.The Institute plays a center-stage role in
the field of transparency and accountability.
Advocates, legal scholars, government-watch
organizations, policymakers, and disclosure
officials use the site regularly to inform
Spanning the Nation
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their work. Students from middle school to
postgraduate programs use our resources
in their studies of law, journalism, political
science, computer science, civics education,
and corporate accountability.
Each day, the Institute responds to multiple
the public. We are conducting a vigorous
campaign to reach new user networks—
particularly media and policy advocates—
targeting organizations focused on fair
elections, civic engagement, corporate
accountability, government transparency,
and investigative journalism.
CNN used our APIs to supply graphs
and content for its coverage of 2010
Researchers added tutorials to several
reports to inform readers how to use the
Institute¹s vast databases to identify and link
important information.
and organizations, including 3,811 news
for accounts at myFollowTheMoney.
The site is regularly used by advocacy
groups, government watch organizations,
policymakers, disclosure and election
officials, academic scholars, and students
from middle school to postgraduate
programs in law, journalism, political
science, computer science, government and
corporate accountability.
(continued)
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Left to right: Scott Wahl–Information Systems
Specialist; Robin Larson–Administrative Assistant;
Denise Roth Barber–Managing Director;
Edwin Bender–Executive Director;
Barbara Bonifas–Development Director.
Not pictured: Ken Feaster–Information Systems
Director; Linda King–Human Resources Manager.
Inundated by Numbers The Institute’s database: 1989–June 30, 2011
525.6
21.1912,941
3.84.440.32.9
246.5143
3,8113,356
13,066,5544,875,308,089
26,576,859
servers required to hold the database
million contribution records
billion dollars in contributions
expenditure records
billion dollars of expenditures
billion dollars in gubernatorial races, 50 states
million dollars in appeals court races, 50 states
billion dollars contributed by party committees
million dollars, the most ever spent on a gubernatorial race (California 2010)
foundations supporting the Institute
times cited in U.S. Supreme Court cases
reporters in our database
organizations in contact with the Institute
API calls since 2006
dollars, highest total contributions, all state races: California
dollars, lowest total contributions, all state races: Wyoming
10
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Spanning the Nation (continued)
Demonstrate. Explain.The National Institute on Money in State
Politics sends staff across the country more
than 20 times a year to present research
findings, demonstrate website tools, create
widgets for organizations, and teach groups
how to conduct investigations using our fact-
based resources.
We invite people to share stories on how
they use data to achieve policy wins; and to
help us reach out to groups focused on civic
engagement, judicial independence, health
care, tax issues, and more.
Executive Director Edwin Bender was
invited to Arizona State University’s Walter
Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass
Communications, the home of the Carnegie-
Knight News21 program that focuses on
Money, Politics, and Accountability. Bender
demonstrated the Institute’s capabilities to
professors who direct News21 projects at
eight prestigious journalism schools around
the nation.
State ethics and disclosure officials supply
their state’s political contribution and
lobbyist records to us for disclosure at
FollowTheMoney.org. The Council on
Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) regularly
invites Institute researchers to present study
findings at their annual conferences, on
research related to strengthening public
access to data they collect.
Online Improvements. All the Time.The ever-expanding free resources on
FollowTheMoney.org provide multiple
ways to assess and compare a state’s
elections system, political donor networks,
lobbying activities, and disclosure laws. We
continually improve the website, adding
visualization tools and shortcuts to make
navigation ever easier and permit users to
dive ever deeper.
Record-breaking visitors were counted at
came to the site over the past fiscal year,
from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.
FollowTheMoney.org lets you build your own
widget to stay informed about the campaign
money in state politics. Users simply select
their interests and paste the widget onto
their website or blog to have this data
streamed live.
Party Control maps provide an easy,
comprehensive way to visualize the political
power shift being played out in state
legislatures today. Our state-level district-
by-district map shows party representations
after the 2008 and 2010 elections. With
a simple click you can also compare the
two maps to see how/if party control has
changed.
Point of Influence shows the geographical
origins of campaign contributions to
determine whether legislators get their
funds from within the district they represent,
or from elsewhere.
Noteworthy Contributors Overview Map
shows where a noteworthy contributor
has given state political contributions, for a
single election cycle or over multiple cycles.
11
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTThhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Everybody’s Talking“Follow the Money Leads On the Iowa AG,”
The National Institute on Money in State Politics’s Follow The Money site reports on how campaign donations from the financial sector to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller have skyrocketed since he took the lead role in the AGs’ foreclosure fraud settlement … applaud Follow The Money for putting together this story, which deserves good play in the press.
—Ryan Chittum, Columbia Journalism Review, April 22, 2011
I always knew about you guys but never fully realized the extent of the data we could access through you…I’m excited to play with it.
—Michael Luo, national correspondent, The New York Times
“Behind the meteoric rise in campaign spending,”
At the state level, campaign spending topped $2 billion – or to be precise $2,075,394,657 on statewide races across the country.
The figure comes from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in Helena, Montana. It’s a terrific resource which collects reports submitted to agencies by all candidates for statewide office, including legislatures, state supreme courts, major political party committees, non-bond ballot measure committees, and lobbyists.
—Brad Knickerbocker, The Christian Science Monitor,
I just wanted to say once again thank you for inviting me to speak at your conference. I was absolutely blown away by the event, the quality of the attendees and the venue. Very impressive indeed.
—Kevin Davis, CEO, Investigative News Network
I am absolutely thrilled with your web site and the service you provide to our democracy.
—John McQuaid (via email)
Most of my work is done on the federal level, but I’ve used your site for years when I need state information. For example, as soon as McCain selected Palin in 2008, I was on your site looking up donations to her gubernatorial race. When I speak at Investigative Reporters and Editors conferences, I always include followthemoney.org on my list of campaign finance websites that I hand out.
—Jonathan Salant, political correspondent, Bloomberg News
We really appreciated having your data available for this report, and your earlier publication on private prisons in the South was part of the inspiration for our report…
Justice Policy Institute
Re: 50-State Assessment of Lobbying Expenditure Data
This is so incredibly valuable, and I’ve been wondering about this info from various states for a while…Thanks for your good work!!
—Sarah Mart, research & policy manager, Alcohol Justice
(formerly Marin Institute)
Re: ALEC report
What a great report! I like the relationship theme in the writeup … Thanks again for compiling this great analysis!
—Brendan Fischer, law fellow, The Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch
Re: NIMSP annual conference
I really learned a lot about something I thought I didn’t need to know more about. The conference re-energized my desire to use a $ in politics lens around all our issues. And the people were fantastic.
—Bob Fulkerson, executive director, Progressive leadership Alliance of Nevada
We’re big fans of your work over here.—Aaron Mehta, reporter, iWatch News,
The Center for Public Integrity12
Board Of Directors
Edwin Bender, a founding incorporator for the Institute, was named executive director in 2003 and also serves on its board of directors. He coordinates organizational policy-making, serves as spokesperson, and provides financial oversight in addition to his key role in fundraising. Prior, Ed led the Institute’s research staff for eight years. A graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism, he was an award-winning reporter and editor at newspapers in Montana, Alaska and Washington.
Bert Brandenburg, board president, is executive director of Justice at Stake Campaign, a national, nonpartisan partnership to keep courts fair, impartial and independent. Bert was the Justice Department’s director of public affairs and chief spokesperson under Attorney General Janet Reno, where he supervised media strategy and press relations for the Justice Department, the FBI, DEA, INS, and 93 U.S. Attorney’s offices. Bert holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia.
Rosalind Gold has worked with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) for two decades. As senior director for policy research and advocacy in NALEO’s Educational Fund, she leads policy analysis, research, naturalization and civic engagement activities. Her expertise includes election reform, voting rights and the decennial
Census enumeration of the Latino population. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Deborah Goldberg is managing attorney of Earthjustice’s northeast regional office, which conducts legal advocacy and litigation related to global warming and environmental health. Prior, she was democracy program director of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. Deborah spent the first decade of her legal career in private practice, concentrating on environmental litigation. Deborah holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, as well as a Ph.D. in philosophy. She taught ethics for three years at Columbia University.
Keith Hamm is the director of the Harlan Program in State Elections, Campaigns and Politics at Rice University. His current research examines how the adoption of the new campaign finance law in Connecticut has affected both interest group lobbying strategies and the setting of the legislative agenda. Keith
served as research chair for North American Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. He is past co-editor of Legislative Studies Quarterly.
Adelaide Elm Kimball is senior advisor (and chaired the founding board of directors) for Project Vote Smart. Earlier, she directed the Archives Department at the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson from 1985 through 1993. Adelaide earned B.A. degrees in History and Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin and her M.A. with concentrations in American History and Museum Studies at the University of Arizona and a Masters of Library Science, also from the University of Arizona.
Larry Makinson is one of the pioneers of computer-assisted reporting on money in politics and the author of several books on patterns in funding federal elections. A former journalist, he spent 15 years at the Center for Responsive
Politics, including two years as its executive director. He has also worked as senior fellow at the Center for Public Integrity and the Sunlight Foundation. He is currently semi-retired on the Oregon coast, doing occasional consulting work for both the Sunlight Foundation and CRP.
A founding incorporator, past board president, and co-director with Samantha Sanchez for the Institute’s first years of operation, Jeff Malachowsky is a veteran of more than 30 years with nonprofit and public interest organizations. He is director of the Civil Society Program for Wellspring Advisors LLC. Prior, Jeff served as the founding executive director for the Portland, Oregon-based Western States Center, which continues to provide leadership development and strategic support to grassroots organizations in eight Western states.
Geri Palast is managing director of the JFNA/JCPA Isreal Action Network. Prior, she was the Executive Director of the Campaign for Fiscal
policy counsel for Presidential-Elect Obama’s Transition Team. Formerly, she was the founder and executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, a national organization working to ensure fair and impartial courts. From 1993-2000, Geri was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. Geri serves as the Institute’s board secretary.
Samantha Sanchez, board treasurer, is administrative law judge for the state of Montana. She served as the Institute’s co-director with Jeff Malachowsky for its first years of operation and now as its board treasurer. As principal researcher on the relationship of special-interest campaign contributions to judicial candidates for state supreme courts, Samantha forged the Institute’s relationships with national scholars and researchers. She received her J.D. at Catholic University Law School, where she served as associate dean for six years.
Left to right: Edwin Bender, Jeff Malachowsky, Geri Palast, Rosalind Gold, Keith Hamm, Larry Makinson, Adelaide Elm Kimball, Samantha Sanchez, Bert Brandenburg, Deborah Goldberg
The Institute: Experienced Leadership
13
The National Institute on Money in State Politics created the first multi-state online disclosure site for independent spending reported
Researchers began publishing their findings
in a series of 22 state-specific reports
on independent spending in elections,
scheduled for completion in December
2011. Next, we will publish a cross-state
Overview of Independent Spending in
State Elections 2006, 2008, 2010 that will
compare the extent and impacts of the
activities that occurred before and after the
Citizens United v. FEC decision.
The National Institute on Money in State Politics created the first multi-state online disclosure site for lobbying expenditures reported to
the states from January 2010 through June
2011. The information will inform strategic
planning and policy advocacy on important
issues, including health care reform and tax
and budget systems.
We have set the stage to push for Best Practices in the 50 states and
intend to use all our persuasion to nudge
states into improving their systems—a self-
serving goal that will also reap benefits for
investigative reporters, researchers, and
the public.
The Long ViewWe’re developing a new project to add data collection for lower court judicial candidates in priority states.
We’re designing a new project to increase capacity of media and advocacy organizations to use our data
to highlight relationships between political
contributions and health public policy. This
project will also increase our effectiveness in
making data accessible and useful to other
media and advocacy organizations.
Every two years, the Institute combs through a mountain of data to process and interpret campaign finance in the 50 states.
October 2011 Printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks
wwwwwwwwww.FollowTheMoney.org
National Institute on Money in State Politics
833 N. Last Chance Gulch
