Want to make sure no one's unduly influencing your elected official? Until recently, this involved manually plowing through thousands of financial records, a time-consuming chore in which you could never cross-reference names, dates, or dollar amounts.
Now, Direct Access Program - a US Federal Election Commission BBS - makes finding out the dish on contributors and political action committees as easy as breezing past White House security.
Want to know which telcos lined the coffers of Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Virginia), Chair of the Commerce Committee? (AT&T US$5,000, Bell South $1,000, GTE $3,000, MCI $2,600, Sprint $2,000.) Or how much Steven Spielberg gave to the Democratic National Party ($100,000)? Amusement potential aside, Direct Access is a serious investigative reporting resource.
The technologically impulsive may be disappointed only by the $20 hourly fee. Some free prepackaged info does come via an automated fax-back phone service.
Unfortunately, FEC documents list only legal donations to politicians. Perhaps someday soon, we'll be able to find out who really runs the government.
Federal Election Commission Direct Access Program: US$20 per hour. (800) 424 9530, fax service +1 (202) 501 3413.
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