In past weeks, you've addressed questions about how much money individuals or groups can give to political candidates and what is generally expected in return for those contributions. I'm wondering now how I can find out who is giving money to the candidates.
F ollowing the money trail in politics is much easier than it used to be.
Before the federal campaign finance laws were reformed in the mid-1970s, it was fairly easy for donors and candidates to keep the exchange of money hidden from the public view. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974, however, set limits on the amount that individuals, political action committees and political parties can give to individual candidates. The Act also requires candidates to keep a detailed accounting of the source of the contributions they receive and to make that accounting public in periodic reports to the Federal Election Commission. You can download actual scanned images of the Disclosure Reports filed by candidates for federal office or you can view Electronic Filings from candidates. To read this report, it is helpful to understand some of the intricacies of campaign finance.