Transparency in Government Project

1
Transparency in Government Project

• Visualizing Campaign Finance Data
• in
• San Francisco

2
Co-Sponsors
The project has been funded by the Leo T.
McCarthy center and the City of San Francisco.
3
Outline

• Motivation for Project
• Demo
• Campaign Finance Visualization
• Lobbyist Input forms
• Future Directions

4
Campaign Transparency Current Status

• Filing required by law.
• Organizations such as SF Ethics Comm. leading the
  way in implementing.
• Limited resources, especially software
  developers.

5
Accessibility is Limited
6
Campaign TransparencyNeeds

• More on-line filing
• Visualization tools
• Views that integrate various data
• Automatic flagging of potential violations
• Data mining Analyzing the data to find
  interesting things.
• UI for input of associations/data

7
Big Picture Solution City and University
Collaboration

• Fill the gap in resources for city.
• Students work on real projects.
• Encourage public service.
• Build some real software to help city/community.

8
Current Status of Project

• Lobbyist database and on-line forms (Hope to
  deploy early summer)
• Campaign funding Visualization
• whosfundingwho.org
• Relational view of funding chains
• Tabular
• Graph
• Launch early summer
• Basis for data mining, integration,etc.

9
DEMO
10
Future Goals

• Integrate multiple data sources
• Flag potential violations
• Mine data for hidden relationships
• Allow experts to input data/associations
• Special Election/Filing Date views

11
Integrating Data
10000
David Wolber
Joe Contributor
Employee Of
Awarded Contract By
City Department X
12
Integrating Data Sources

• State Filings
• Other Cities and Counties
• Data Standards?

13
Integrating Lobbyist and Campaign Finance Data

• Does a contributor employ a lobbyist? If so, what
  issue is the lobbyist hired to promote?
• Lobbyists must report if theyve prompted someone
  to make a contribution.

14
Data within Ethics Commission.

• Independent Expenditure Database
• 461 Major Donors
• Political Consultants

15
Contracts/Voting

• City Contracts/Permits Awarded
• Voting Records

16
Flagging Possible Violations

• Sometimes duplicative filings are required.
• e.g., cross-checking RCPT database with
  Independent Expenditure DB.
• Are RCPT committees contributing to other
  committees (a violation)
• Negative cash balances

17
Data Mining IdeasTime-Based Queries

• Suggested by Wade Randlett
• Working groups often contribute in bunches, often
  near the time of an event.

18
Geographical Queries

• For instance, funding by neighborhood or
  district.
• Note that this information is not in the redacted
  data now online at Ethics Commission.

19
Human input of Data

• Theres a lot of data available that is free
  text, not a database
• e.g., voting on issues, news
• Administer/Researcher/Expert can read and enter
  into a database.
• Objectivity Issues

20
Special Election/Filing Date views

• Side-by-side comparisons of candidates
• Late-Period Data

21
Thank You

• whosfundingwho.org
• David Wolber (wolber_at_usfca.edu)
• [phone]
• Email us or come by and see us we want detailed
  feedback and ideas