Name (printed) _________________________________
Student number _________________________________
Your home town or city ___________________________
Your state ______________________________________
It's not possible to answer the question Is Congress For Sale in this short assignment, but you can begin to obtain some idea of the role of money in politics by briefly examining your representative's campaign finances. If you want to spend the time, you can even discover the names of groups and individuals who give the most money. It will be difficult, perhaps impossible to know if and how these contributions have affected the person's votes in Congress, but it is a start.
First what is your representative's name? (Use the person who represents your district in 2001.)
If you don't know who your representative is you can find her or him here.
U. S. Representative: ____________________________
Note: the assignment pertains to Congressional candidates, not Senate or state representatives.Note: if your representative did not run for reelection or if you wish use one of these:
Now use the Internet to reach "The Money Line" page.
Click on "US House and Senate Campaigns." Look on the left side of the page.
Make sure the "2000 election cycle" is checked. Then enter the representative's last name and click "Go Search."
If more than one person is listed, find and click your congressperson's name. You will be linked to "Campaign Finance Info," a page where you will find all sorts of data and links.
What were your representative's total receipts? (Look in the first table.) : _____________
What were the total disbursements or expenditures?? ________________
Contributions from PACs: _______________
What percent of total receipts or contributions came from PACs? (You have to use the receipts total above to make the calculation.) _____________
Contributions from individuals: ______________
What percent of total receipts or contributions came from individuals? (You have to use the receipts total above to make the calculation.) _____________
Look in the top box.Contributions from parties: ______________
Now scroll back to the middle of the top box and click on the "List by Standard Industry Code (SIC)" link. This will take you to a table that shows PAC contributions listed by type of industry or group. (You should see a table with entries such as "Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate," "Manufacturing," Services," "Defense, "Organized Labor," and so forth.
What type of group contributed the most? How much?
____________________________________________________________________
How much (if any) did labor groups contribute? ______________________
What about "Single Issue" groups? Which (if any) gave the most? How much? _______________________________________________________________
What about "Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate? ___________
____________________________________________________________
On your own you can explore the list of PAC contributors. Click on "Single-Issue Groups." Among the political organizations do you see any that might speak for one side or the other of the abortion issue? If so, how much did they contribute? Are you surprised given the vote your representative cast on the abortion issue? (Use the space below to report your findings.) What about those groups that might take a stand on gay rights? Did any contribute to your representative?
Finally, go back to the main candidate page. At the bottom find the percent of individual contributions that came from out-of-state.
What is the percent? _____________
Optional. (Not necessarily any extra credit.) Look around the individual contributors to see if there is anything interesting. If so, let us know. A more advanced example. What congressional committees did your representative serve on in the previous congress? Do the PAC contributions make sense in light of these committee assignments?
Optional: did your representative recieve any support from these kinds of groups?
Due April 23, 2002 in class. No exceptions
Worth five (5) percent.
Work alone.
Go to American Political System page