During the Watergatescandal that eventually toppled President Richard Nixon, confidentialsource "Deep Throat" advised two enterprising Washington Post reportersto "follow the money" to uncover the scandal’s ringleaders.
Now MAPLight.org, a small, not-for-profit company, is developing a databaseand application mashup that will allow the public to follow anothermoney trail?the connection between campaign contributions and the waylawmakers vote.
The mashup brings together two usually disparate sources of information?donor money and vote data?in an interactive map. The maps illustratethe link between the amount of money elected officials receive fromdonors, the way that those elected officials vote on a given issue, andwhat position the donor?such as a political action committee?was takingon an issue when it contributed to the officials’ campaigns.
Read the full article at eWEEK.