A Solid Start For OpenSecrets 'Open Data'
More than 120 people have downloaded bulk data from the Center for Responsive Politics' campaign finance clearinghouse OpenSecrets.org in the 24 hours since the site opened up its data archives to the public for non-commercial purposes, officials said Tuesday. After 26 years, CRP unshackled about 200 million records so that skilled data-divers can explore information aggregated on OpenSecrets. Officials hope that Web developers and database experts will grab federal money-in-politics data that CRP's researchers have standardized and coded, and mash it up with other data sets. Timelines, charts, maps, other graphics and mobile applications are just some of the projects that could result.
"Putting our data into more hands will put more eyes on Washington and, we hope, engage more Americans in their government," CRP Executive Director Sheila Krumholz said in a press release. "We hope that more people counting cash will lead to more people making change." The OpenSecrets OpenData initiative is being underwritten by a three-year $1.2 million grant from Sunlight Foundation. Sunlight's Ellen Miller said CRP's initiative will have "a long-term impact, undoubtedly inspiring many effective and creative uses of the data by civic hackers, journalists and bloggers."
The following data sets, along with a user guide, resource tables and other documentation, are now available in CSV format here.
• Campaign finance: 195 million records dating to the 1989-1990 election cycle, tracking campaign fundraising and spending by candidates for federal office, as well as political parties and political action committees.
• Lobbying: 3.5 million records on federal lobbyists, their clients, their fees and the issues they • reported working on, dating to 1998.
• Personal finances: Reports from members of Congress and the executive branch that detail their personal assets, liabilities and transactions in 2004 through 2007. Reports covering 2008 will become available to the public in June.
• 527 organizations: Electronically filed financial records beginning in the 2004 election cycle for issue-advocacy groups that can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, labor unions and individuals.
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