LittleSis* is a free database of who-knows-who at the heights of business and government
* opposite of Big Brother
We're a grassroots watchdog network connecting the dots between the world's most powerful people and organizations
- Citizen's United. No need to elaborate.
- It is incredibly hard to marry lobbying and fundraising data. The company names are not the cleanest.
- Extent of enforced disclosure in the Lobbying Disclosure Act: lobbyists do not need to say which bill they are trying to influence, or which official (political or bureacratic) they are trying to influence / contact.
Both acts have tiny loopholes. I don't remember the exact quantities, but if you're donating an amount smaller than X to a politician, it does not need to be reported. And if less than Y% of your time is spent attempting to influence politicians / government agents, you don't need to report this.
Has a fair amount of data about current MPs including expenses claimed and voting history.
However I don't know of anything that goes in depth of what you are proposing. I think a clean UI that shows something as basic as politicians voting records can make voters more informed.
Is this information public knowledge? could it the extraction of information be automated or would it require journalism and looking through paper trails?
You can also use the Federal Register as well, but that requires a little inside alchemy to navigate for many.
I haven't used it, so I don't know about the quality of the data