<\/a>A new info source, powered by the Sunlight Foundation, makes it almost ridiculously easy to see the links between politicians and their money sources. Oh, how I\u2019ve longed for this. As media coverage of politicians has turned from reporting into copy-and-paste from press releases and pronouncements, little is made of the connections between what politicians say, or vote for, and who contributes to their campaigns.<\/p>\n

When a Congressman votes for reduced regulations on banks, for example, I\u2019ve long hoped that news reports would include information about how much money that Congressperson has received from banking industry sources. My fantasy goes something like this: \u201cCongressman X voted \u2018no\u2019 today on a bill that would have required banks to disclose more information to their customers. According to the Federal Elections Commission, Congressman X has received $150,000 in campaign contributions from banking industry groups since being elected in 2002.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Well, of course, that kind of reporting rarely happens. Until now. The Sunlight Foundation\u2019s new Poligraft<\/a> site takes political press releases, website postings and news reports and annotates them with information that yields critical context.<\/p>\n

The nifty thing about Poligraft [you gotta love that clever name] is not just the connections it reveals, but the way it accomplishes the task. At the Poligraft site, you type in the URL for a news article or web posting, or you copy-and-paste part or all of a press release or blog posting. One click later, Poligraft has highlighted politicians\u2019 names, organizations and PACS and posts a sidebar showing \u201cthe interconnections among the people, organizations and relationships described in the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example. I pasted the URL from an October 3, 2010 article called, \u201cMcCain campaigns with Ayotte, Guinta in Hampton [New Hampshire]. Within seconds, the full article popped up, highlighting \u201cJohn McCain,\u201d \u201cKelly Ayotte,\u201d and several other GOP candidates in New Hampshire. In a sidebar called, \u201cThe Report,\u201d Poligraft revealed McCain\u2019s top contributing industries [Finance, Insurance, Real Estate] and a link to specifics of industries and groups that have given him money between 1989 and 2010. The Report does the same for every other politician and candidate referred to in the article.<\/p>\n

Try it with your favorite, or least favorite, politician. Thanks again, Sunlight.<\/p>\n

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A new info source, powered by the Sunlight Foundation, makes it almost ridiculously easy to see the links between politicians and their money sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,16],"tags":[699,701],"yoast_head":"\n