Researching a Corporation

Money & Politics

Sample Questions

* To which elected officials has the company given campaign contributions (local, state, federal)? Search by PAC, company name, top executives.

* What local, state, or federal officials/bodies are centrally involved in legislating conditions in the industry (who serves on oversight committees)? To what extent are these elected officials backed by industry leaders?

* Industry associations: is there more than one? Do they represent different interests? What are their political/legislative agendas? Who are their lobbyists?

* Economic development authorities: are there local public/private bodies that are key in recruiting and subsidizing firms in this industry? What subsidies has this company received? [tax abatements, job subsidies, corporate welfare]

Information Sources

Websites for campaign contributions/lobbying/government officials

Center for Responsive Politics http://www.opensecrets.org
Special reports on the correlation between the sources of lawmakers campaign funds and how they voted, as well as industry and topical analysis to campaign contributions (for example, top ten agribiz contributors). Have full text archives of various CRP publications (Monday Morning Alert, Captial Eye, etc.) It can be searched by name of congress member, by issue, or keyword (for example, company name). Also has contact information for locating state campaign contributions.

Federal Electoral Commission Info http://www.tray.com/fecinfo
FECINFO provides public access to campaign contributions to federal representatives and candidates, and the major national parties (soft money). Search by company (employer) and name. The main page is hard on the eyes, stay focused on the left side of the screen. To search by candidate/representative click US HOUSE/SENATE CAMPAIGN MONEY. To search by contributor use: LOOK-UP CONTRIBUTORS BY THEIR NAME (use company name here, too), CONTRIBUTOR OCCUPATION/EMPLOYER LOOK-UP, and PAC listings (which also provide information on money spent on lobbying). Clear instructions are provided as you go along.

Project Vote Smart http://www.vote-smart.org
Voting records, campaign finance data, issue positions, performance evaluations, biographical and contact information on president and current members of congress. The amounts received by current office holders from specific interest groups, such as agriculture, are shown back to the late 1980's. Similar information on state legislators, governors and non-incumbent candidates. Has a section under: Government & Politics - Issues - Research the Issues, that provides a background on an issue with links to advocacy organizations working on that issue. Vote Smart is non-partisan and lists groups from left to right. They also provide links to Think Tanks and Research Institutes.

California Voter Foundation http://www.calvoter.org
Features profiles of California elected officials.

California Secretary of State http://www.ss.ca.gov
Lobbyist information - what lobbyists are used by specific companies, amount spent on lobbying by company (within industries).

Websites for Subsidies/Corporate Welfare

Waste Basket http://www.taxpayer.net/TCS/wastebasket
Taxpayer for Common Sense. Wasteful government spending weekly newsletter that has back issues going back several years. NO search engine, so you have to scroll through headlines to find anything.

Return on Investment http://www.commoncause.org/publications/return.htm
Common Cause report on corporate welfare. Web site has a search engine.

Corporate Welfare Listserv Archives
http://lists.essential.org/corporate-welfare
Essential Information's listserv on corporate welfare issues. Searchable.

For additional sources, check out our Money & Politics guide.

Local Elections Office
Sometimes known as Ethics Commission or Registrar of Voters. This office will have filings of campaign contributions organized by elected official and sometimes large donors. Most local offices will have local, state and federal officials (the latter two for the local area only). In California, you must contact the Secretary of State in Sacramento for non-local candidates (or see StateNet listing below).

Local Government Agencies
Check with various local agencies for tax abatement/subsidy information: Zoning, Economic Development, Planning Commission, Tax assessor. Many city agencies now maintain information on the city website, be sure to check there first.

StateNet http://www.statenet.com
State Net monitors 100% of all pending bills and regulations in the 50 states and Congress. There is a monthly subscription fee of several hundred dollars, depending on how many services you want. (We subscribe to StateNet at the DataCenter)

General Press

Search for news coverage of a company's activities via the following web sites (both are searchable for free or a nominal yearly membership, but you pay a per document fee for every article you look at full text):

Northern Light http://www.northernlight.com
Search over 130 Million Web pages and articles of more than 5,400 full text sources. Sources include some alternative press. Service is free, but a charge from $1 - $4 for articles from "Special Collection". Also has Investext (stock market analysts reports).

DowJones News Retrieval http://www.djinteractive.com
Available on the web for a $69 yearly fee and a document charge to view anything more than a headline. Document charges range from $2.95 for articles to over $100 for some reports. Only source for the Wall Street Journal full text.

Profile | Reputation | Labor | Environment | Money & Politics