Our favorite uses of Party Time fundraising data
As the year draws to a close, we want to give a shout out to some of the journalists, bloggers, and advocacy groups that have done their own analyses of Party Time data this year to produce ground-breaking stories:
- “Few members of Congress are disclosing that lobbyists are helping them raise campaign cash despite a new law that was supposed to shed light on the ties between lawmakers and the capital’s influence brokers,” reported an Associated Press investigation published in September using Party Time data. Read the story here.
- Propublica produced this investigation in September showing how Sen. Saxby Chambliss uses his leadership PAC to fund golf outings, using our data and featuring a Party Time “widget” displaying leadership PAC parties.
- In July, the Washington Post used Party Time data to demonstrate how Blue Dog Democrats were feted by health care lobbyists while they were working on the health care reform bill.
- Public Citizen produced a report in August that showed lobbyists for Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) recipients had hosted fundraisers for lawmakers.
- The folks at LobbyData.com created a Google map mashup showing locations of fundraisers based on Party Time data, and reportedly are at work on an iPhone application.
- Back in March, American News Project journalist Harry Hanbury took on the daunting task of attempting to go to every single congressional fundraiser listed in the Party Time database for a single day. Check out the video here.
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PARTYFINDER™ Hints
Beneficiary: congressional candidate, lawmaker, or entity which collects funds raised at party
Host: person who is hosting party-often, but not always, a registered federal lobbyist
Venue Name: where the party is
Entertainment Type: type of gathering, such as "breakfast," "ski trip," "bowling"
Other Lawmakers Mentioned: lawmakers mentioned on invitation who are used as a draw for the event
Sunlight's Party Time is a project to track parties for members of Congress or congressional candidates that happen all year round in Washington, D.C. and beyond. (read more)
We also post information we receive about parties where members of Congress are expected to participate—such as convention or inaugural parties.
Since we don't hear about all the parties, you can also tell us if you know where the party is and we don't.
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