“What used to take hours to dig up and analyze is now laid bare for you to see in seconds or minutes,” so states the homepage of MAPLight.org, a new website that brings together campaign contributions and how legislators vote, creating more transparency of the connections between money and politics. This includes:
– How each legislator voted on each of the 5,000 bills in the 2003-2004 California legislative session.
– All campaign contributions made to each legislator from 2001-2004, categorized by the interest or industry of the contributor.
– Supporters and opponents of each bill, and the industries and interests those supporters and opponents represent.
– A brief description of each bill, and the subject the bill is about.
– The full text of each bill, including committee reports and amendments.
So far, MAPLight.org currently includes all 5,000 bills in the 2003-2004 California legislative session and all California campaign contributions from January 2001 through December 2004. They are seeking donations and support to extend MAPLight.org to include data for other states and U.S. Congress. This is a very promising project, so let’s give them our support!
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