CA State-Level Independent Expenditure Search Engine Launched by CA Secretary of State Alex Padilla and MapLight
CA State-Level Independent Expenditure Search Engine Launched by CA Secretary of State Alex Padilla and MapLight
Major donor and independent expenditure committees spent over $80 million in California during the 2014 election cycle
February 9, 2016 -- California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and MapLight, a 501(c)(3), nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that tracks money in politics, are pleased to announce the launch of a new independent expenditure search tool that allows citizens and journalists to easily track the source, recipient, and amount of California state-level independent expenditures from 2001 to the present. The tool will be added to Power Search, the CA Secretary of State's open source campaign finance search engine developed by MapLight.
"Working in a public-private partnership with MapLight is allowing us to greatly improve the speed and accuracy of our campaign data searches. Adding this latest online search tool provides the public and the press easy access to important campaign information. Working with MapLight we are increasing transparency at little to no cost to the state," Padilla added.
"Independent expenditures are a way that wealthy interest groups influence who is elected to run our government," said Daniel G. Newman, President and Co-Founder of MapLight. "The search tool launched today by MapLight and Secretary Padilla supports transparency and accountability in our government, and makes it easier for citizens throughout California to keep track of who is funding election campaigns.
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