It’s no exaggeration to say that algorithms will write much of the news for us in the future, as indeed they already do today.

Take politics.

If you’re interested in learning about the special interests that direct the votes of elected officials in the U.S., there is plenty of data for that.

Campaign-finance disclosure laws require that certain forms get filed, eventually. Organizations such as the Center for Responsive Politics make sure accurate data is collected, analyzed and distributed as widely as possible. If you are motivated, you can get a pretty good grip on the amounts and sources of money changing hands.

Similarly, if you’re interested in learning about the voting records of your legislators, there is plenty of data for that, too. Yeas, nays and abstentions — and the dates of the votes — are widely available.

Individually, these datasets are useful and necessary tools for transparency. Put them together, however, and you get something even more powerful: A road map to cash and votes in Congress and state legislatures across the country.

About a year ago, I saw a great demonstration of how these correlations can be teased out, from Daniel Newman, executive director of nonprofit MAPLight.org. The nonpartisan Berkeley, California, group takes raw contribution data from CRP and the National Institute on Money in State Politics, and then mashes it with voting records and corporate statements of support and opposition to legislative initiatives.

Correlation does not imply causation, of course. Nevertheless the picture that emerges when you systematically compare contributions to voting records is telling. (See related story: “Follow the Money: Pork-Powered Pig Preps for Flight.”)

Once you’ve experienced this, it’s hard to be satisfied with the old, disconnected data. It’s like getting a first taste of salt.

Dan and I started talking about ways to collaborate, and the result is the Influence Tracker — a simple widget that anyone can embed in any webpage, covering top contributors for all 535 members of Congress, plus four additional nonvoting delegates. We’ve also added corporate logos of top contributors, displayed in a NASCAR-style sponsor silhouette accompanying each lawmaker.

The underlying data is provided by CRP, and updated every 24 hours, reflecting the most recent available numbers.

This is not a deep research tool — it is primarily promotional. Our goal is to get people to share more information about special interests in politics, and to react and think more deeply about the influences and agendas that may be behind the people they elect to represent them. Hopefully, people who see it will get a laugh or a surprise out of it that will make them curious and start to educate themselves, and talk about the role of money in politics.

The widget is available immediately to embed on your own website. Take it, share it, use it.

—Evan Hansen, Editor-in-Chief

Acknowledgments: This project would not have been possible without the talents and contributions of Hernan Silberman, Dennis Crothers, Michael Mertens, Daniel Newman and the staff of MAPLight.org, the Center for Responsive Politics, and David Kravets.

Authors: Evan Hansen

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