Created in 1990, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity conducts investigative research and reporting on public policy issues in the United States and around the world. Founder and Executive director Charles Lewis, the Board and the Advisory Board are a “who’s who” of award-winning media journalists overseeing leading investigative reporters and editors in 48 countries. All the Center’s projects are supported by thorough easily accessible search databases. Silent Partners, disclosing how political non-profits work the system, offers searches sorted by committees, contributions and expenditures OR by individual or group (company) donors/recipients. “Any state” can be checked, including “Florida”. The “Well Connected” section asks, “Who controls the media where you live?” Its Media Tracker allows you to answer that query. To track how private interests influence public policy, check LobbyWatch. Easily check how money is being spent by companies and groups from Florida to lobby the federal government. For outside interests reported by state legislators, see Our Private Legislatures. Also see conflicts of interest in Florida. Hired Guns discloses who’s greasing who’s skids (lobbying and lobbists) while Outsourcing the Pentagon shows who benefits from the Politics and Economics of National Security. Global Integrity tracks corruption, openness and accountability in 25 countries and States of Disclosure sheds light on the private interests of public officials - including those in Florida. Current issues are addressed in Campaign Consultants - The Price of Democracy, a spending scorecard for the professionals hired by campaigns to run the show, and Collateral Damage, the post 9/11 disconnect between Human Rights and Military Aid. Much, much more...great stuff!

MAPLight.org

MAPLight.org a groundbreaking public database, illuminates the connection between campaign donations and legislative votes in unprecedented ways. Elected officials collect large sums of money to run their campaigns, and they often pay back campaign contributors with special access and favorable laws. This common practice is contrary to the public interest, yet legal. MAPLight.org makes money/vote connections transparent, to help citizens hold their legislators accountable. These indiscretions can be researched by Interest Group, by Legislator, or by Legislation.

FundRace 2008

Although no one ever accused Arianna Huffington of bi-partisan vision, her "Huffington Post" offshoot FundRace 2008 makes it easy to search by name or address to see which presidential candidates your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors are contributing to. Or you can see if your favorite celebrity is putting their money where their mouth is. FundRace gives you the technology to do what politicians and journalists have been doing for years: find out where the money's coming from, see who it's going to, and solve the mystery of why that crazy ex-roommate of yours is now the Ambassador to Turks and Caicos. FundRace 2008 allows you to either check the contributing habits of individuals (friends, neighbors, etc.) or search by occupation (actors, scientists, CFOs, activists, lawyers, priests, etc.) or employer (Microsoft, Google, Halliburton, NBC, CBS, AOL, etc.). You can also see how the presidential candidates measure up in Horserace where betting-line odds support who has the most money, who has the most friends, and who has the biggest chance of winning their party's nomination come Super Tuesday.

Roll Call

Roll Call is widely considered the leading source for Congressional News and information both inside the Beltway and beyond. Since 1955, Roll Call has been the newspaper of Capitol Hill, giving Members of Congress a platform to communicate with one another across the aisle and between the chambers. Led by Co-Editors Ed Henry and Tim Curran and Executive Editor Morton Kondracke, their reporters and columnists -- Stuart Rothenberg, Norman Ornstein, Donna Brazile, David Winston and Don Wolfensberger deliver breaking news. Check current national endorsements of Lawmakers and Lobbyists. Also see Rollcall's Vested Interests.

Congress.Org

Congress.org is a free, public service of Capitol Advantage. It is powered by the CapWiz system. Congress.org allows users to identify and send messages (e-mail, letter, or fax) to their elected leaders in Congress, The White House, and state legislatures. These messages can be posted online with Letters to Leaders and, along with similar messages by others, read by everyone! Find and contact local and national media by ZIP code or by state with Media Guide. Have your representative’s votes sent to you weekly via e-mail with MegaVote, search Action Alerts on a wide range of current issues, and take action in the Issues and Action area of the web site.

Some of the services sponsored by Congress.Org’s CapWiz system are available below. Find and contact your federal, state and local elected officials, check the issues that you care about and let give them your opinion, see who’s running for what office, contact your local media to give them a piece of your mind or simply register to vote! Just enter your ZIP code (if you don't know your nine-digit ZIP code, use your five-digit ZIP) or state and click. Easy as pie!

Find Elected Officials Enter ZIP Code: or Search by State See Issues & Action Select An Issue Area: Contact The Media Enter ZIP Code: or Search by State	Find Federal Officials Enter ZIP Code: or Search by State Find State Officials Enter ZIP Code: or Search by State Contact The Media Enter ZIP Code: or Search by State	Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
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Common Cause

Common Cause is a nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner. Now with nearly 300,000 members and supporters and 36 state organizations, Common Cause remains committed to honest, open and accountable government, as well as encouraging citizen participation in democracy. To strengthen public participation and faith in our institutions of self-government; to ensure that government and political processes serve the general interest, rather than special interests; to curb the excessive influence of money on government decisions and elections; to promote fair elections and high ethical standards for government officials; and to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans.

Project Vote Smart

Project Vote Smart (PVS) is a citizen’s organization dedicated to serving all Americans with accurate and unbiased information for electoral decision-making. Its policies, procedures and structure are designed to guarantee absolute impartiality and standards of excellence in fulfillment of its mission. In our democracy, no power is more potent than dependable, relevant and well-organized information about candidates for public office in the hands of voters before Election Day. Objective facts detailing candidates’ backgrounds and issue positions and a reliable impartial source to contact with questions are a voter’s only self-defense against current political campaign abuses. The source for this information must be a totally independent nonpartisan and objective entity that always puts the interest of the voter first and provides its service free of cost with easy and instant access for everyone. 40 national leaders, including former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, formed Project Vote Smart (PVS) in 1992. PVS, described by the New York Times as “one of the most comprehensive campaign information sites on the web” and by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “spectacular” for gathering in one place the information any intelligent voter needs, constructed a user-friendly voter’s self-defense system accessible through a website and a toll-free hotline (1-888-VOTE-SMART).

FactCheck.org

A web site devoted to “anti-spin”, FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. The Annenberg Political Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg in 1994, the Annenberg Public Policy Center is a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that addresses public policy issues at the local, state, and federal levels. They monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Funded primarily by an endowment from the Annenberg Foundation, the APPC accepts NO funding from business corporations, labor unions, political parties, lobbying organizations or individuals.

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