MAPLight

Connecting the Dots

On March 14, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment that held phone companies who helped the National Security Agency carry out warrant-less eavesdropping on private citizens responsible for their actions and vulnerable to billions of dollars worth of lawsuits. Three months later, the 94 House Democrats who previously voted against this retroactive immunity from prosecution suddenly reversed their votes, effectively shielding telecommunications companies from lawsuits.

"Why did these 94 House members have a change of heart?" asked Daniel Newman, executive director, MAPLight, "Their constituents deserve answers."

Providing insight, if not answers, is the goal of MAPLight.org, a public database that, with the click of a mouse, reveals patterns of money and influence on legislators in a way that was never before possible. The organization's sophisticated but easily navigable Web site allows users to view and understand these patterns by effectively connecting the dots among three data sets-bill texts and legislative voting records, supporting and opposing interests for each bill, and campaign contribution data. Graphic timelines of contributions and votes for each bill identifies when legislators received large donations in relation to their vote. Users can also access information by specific bill, legislator, industry, contribution amount, and voting history.

Maplight's research into the sweeping intelligence surveillance law reveals that Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint contributed almost double the amount of contributions to legislators who supported immunity for the telecom companies compared with those who voted against immunity.

"Campaign contributions bias our legislative system," said Newman. "Simply put, candidates who take positions contrary to industry interests are unlikely to receive industry funds and thus have fewer resources for their election campaigns than those whose votes favor industry interests."

Launched in October 2006 to track the correlation between campaign contributions and votes cast in the California state legislature, Maplight.org expanded in May 2007 to track the voting records of U.S. senators and representatives. Its research department uses findings based on the combination of contribution data from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) with voting data from THOMAS, which provides legislative information from the Library of Congress, via GovTrack.us, a privately run, open-government Web site. With support from the Fund, it plans to expand its reach to all 50 states within the next few years and make its software available to organizations on the local level. Also key to its mission is sharing the information it gathers with the media.

"People care a lot about the issues but often miss the connection between contributions and politics," Newman explained. "Our goal is to make that connection number one on the agenda at both the state and federal level."

Read how MAPLight.org is receiving acclaim across the Internet.