Useful Links
Organizations with a particular interest in government transparency.
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) - CAGW is among the country's most well-known taxpayer watchdogs, renowned for their annual Pig Book exposing Congressional pork barrel spending.
Center for Public Integrity - Based in
Congresspedia - A grantee of the Sunlight Foundation and a project of the Center for Media & Democracy, Congresspedia is devoted to conveying information about members of Congress and their related bills, news, and general activities.
Federal Election Commission - Find out about campaign contributions at the FEC, where data can be sorted by contributor, candidate, and more. All contributions over $200 must be reported to the Federal Campaign Commission, but only those reports that are filed electronically are available at the FEC website.
Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act Database - Lobbyists who work at the Congressional level are required to register and file disclosure forms regarding the clients they represent. You can search at this federally-funded database to find out who's influencing whom, then check their campaign contributions at the FEC website or at Open Secrets, listed below.
Fortune 535 - Find out how much your federal representatives' wealth has grown during their tenure in Congress - and where that money came from. This site shows the filings of all elected members of Congress in accordance with the Ethics in Government Act, including their assets, liabilities, and outside income - and lists those gifts and travel provided for them by outside organizations.
NC Coalition for Lobbying Reform - A nonpartisan group of organizations which first joined together to work collectively on lobbying reforms and is currently engaged in reforming the redistricting process in >North Carolina. The organization's goal is to promote "good-government policies that level the playing field for the citizens."
NC Open Government Coalition - An umbrella organization uniting groups with an interest in increasing citizen access to government activities, public records and meetings. A project of
NC State Board of Elections - A link to the campaign reporting site of North Carolina's official regulatory agency for election law and all state and local elections.
NC State Lobbyists Disclosure - Search for lobbyists and view their financial disclosure forms at the Lobbyist Compliance division of the North Carolina Secretary of State's office.
NC Taxpayer Clock - Posted for taxpayers by the North Carolina Republican Party in an effort to highlight what it calls "excessive spending of the latest proposed budget from Governor Mike Easley," this real-time clock shows the amount of taxes accumulated from state taxpayers during the time the site is up.
North Carolina General Assembly - Search for bills and other information via the home page of the
North Carolina House - Find contact information for your representative in this alphabetical directory of House members, which includes the counties each represents.
North Carolina Senate - Find contact information for your senator in this alphabetical directory of Senate members, which includes the counties each represents.
Open Secrets - A creation of the Center for Responsive Politics, Open Secrets tracks money related to all federally elected officials, as well as related campaign financing.
Sam Adams Alliance - An organization dedicated to providing information designed to empower citizens to expect and demand more from their government.
Stateline - A site funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts as a project of the
Sunlight Foundation - Based in Washington, DC, the Sunlight Foundation aims to expand online access to information about the workings of Congress and the influence of money in politics in order to foster greater accountability in government.
Thomas - Roll call votes of North Carolina's Congressional delegation may be found at this site, a project of the Library of Congress named after Thomas Jefferson.
