ElectionFinance.net is launched!
A fitting day to launch ElectionFinance.net! Today the United States holds close-fought midterm elections in which the Democrats look poised to take the US House of Representatives and possibly even the Senate. The election was the most-expensive Congressional race in history and the second election (2004 being the first) under the new regulatory system ushered in by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (commonly called BCRA). I will be posting data, stories and information about the finance of this election in the weeks to come.
In addition to the federal chambers, voters in many states are selecting state-wide and local legislators, executives, judges and in some place even voting for state and local referenda and propositions. For ElectionFinance.net, the most important of these is California’s Proposition 89, an initiative that, if passed, would place new contribution limits on donors and have the state finance political campaigns. Similar measures have tried but failed to do similar in California. You can find details about the initiative from either its supporters www.89now.org or its detractors www.noprop89.org.
For now, much of ElectionFinance.net is under development. To the left, you can find links to read more about this site and why I’ve launched it and to see the beginnings of the Knowledge Databases Political Finance Disclosure in Democracy and Campaign Finance Data on the Internet.
The hope of ElectionFinance.net is to become a repository of information about the variety and ever-changing state of campaign finance and its regulation in the world’s democracies. The focus is therefore intended to be on regulations and reforms, but anything relating to campaign and political finance is welcome, including practice, scandals, and even personal stories about campaigns and elections. So your contributions are welcome and encouraged. And please contact me (jwjohnson@electionfinance.net) with any comments, suggestions or inquiries you may have.
Joel Johnson