Comments on Data on lobbyists comes too late, is too hard to use - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by oboe

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:57:38 EDT

I'm not sure the focus on "lobbyists" per se is particularly helpful. A close family member worked for several years at a large non-profit that served youth. Since her job description required that she spend more than a certain amount of time talking to Congressional staff, she was required to register as a "lobbyist". I think exposing the links to money and various behaviors that smell of quid pro quo is more fruitful.

Comment by Jasper

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:22:14 EDT

@ SamuelMoore:If we know what companies are lobbying, isn't that enough?

That depends on how detailed you want knowledge on the lobbying. I don't think it's too much to ask to disclose who's lobbying whom and on what subject. You also want to keep an eye on campaign contributions and lobbying.

Comment by Rob P

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:20:46 EDT

Sadly, government data in difficult to manipulate formats and with poor querying tools is probably the norm, not the exception. Replace "data on lobbyists" with "data on X topic" and you've got a handful of similar articles.

Comment by Matt Rumsey

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:12:56 EDT

@SamuelMoore

David Wilmot is probably the name most connected with the word Lobbyist in DC politics (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/looselips/tag/david-wilmot/). I think there's a reasonable argument to be made that this is common knowledge to anyone with an interest in DC politics. Although I'll admit that linking his name wouldn't have been a burden.

I think it would be good to be able to easily organize the data using his name because he, like many lobbyists in this town, works for more than one company. Having more ways to easily sort the data allows users to paint a broader picture and draw more accurate/informed conclusions.

OCF started to build a search system, no third party has stepped up to do a better job, I think OCF should improve upon the system that they created. Although, I'd be ecstatic if a local college student (or other person/group) stepped up to do it as Jasper suggested above.

Comment by @SamuelMoore

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:43:35 EDT

Why do we need to know who David Wilmot has contacted? Who is he? Is he a lobbyist? What is your preoccupation with him? If we know what companies are lobbying, isn't that enough?

I agree the reporting system is awful, same for campaign finance, it's 15 years behind, but other than that, and more frequent disclosure, this "problem" should be fixed.

Comment by Jasper

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:22:36 EDT

Time for an assignment for a computer science student at one of Washington's great universities to develop an open source tool to search this data handily and graduate on it.