MAPLight.org L.A. — Uncovering Campaign Finances

Part of the Sunlight Foundation network for government accountability and transparency is MAPLight.org, the investigative group that keeps track of big-money interest group campaign contributions and its corruptive influence on Congress.

Maplight has a new government transparency site, MAPLight.org Los Angeles. The new site arms users with campaign finance data allowing them to uncover detailed information about special-interest contributions given to Los Angeles elected officials, turning ordinary citizens into political watchdogs.

“Special interests would not be spending millions to fund politicians’ election campaigns unless they wanted something in return,” said Daniel Newman, MAPLight.org’s executive director.

MAPLight.org Los Angeles shows what’s possible in the emerging movement of Web 2.0 government transparency.