For this assignment, you will explore the campaign finance reports for your state representative
and state senator. Follow the steps below to get to the information. Then, answer the
questions at the end of the assignment. I have anticipated the problems many students will
encounter and created very specific directions to deal with the various data issues. Please
READ ALL DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY. Do not wait until the last minute as there are idiosyncrasies
in the data that might require my help.
Part I: Locate Information
1) Find the names and party affiliations of your state representative and state senator (NOT US REP OR
US SENATOR). Go to: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ On the right-hand side is a box entitled Who
represents me? Enter your address and retrieve the names/party of your state representative and
state senator. It is possible that your address is near a boundary line of 2 districts. If so, the website
might give you 2 state representatives or state senators. If so, pick one state senator and one state
representative.
2) Go to the website of the Texas Ethics Commission where campaign finance reports are filed.
https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/
Now, 1. Click on Search campaign and lobby reports (Left menu, 2nd box).
2. Click Campaign finance reports (Center box).
3. Go to Simple Search.
4. Enter the Filer Name. (make sure that it is your STATE representative or senator, not the US
representatives). Enter the whole name as some common names will bring up a long list of
names.
5. Enter the name.
6. Search.
7. Find the name from the list and click on the Filer ID. See Notes below.
8. Once the next page loads, use the arrow in the upper right hand corner to go find the page with
the January 17, 2017 report. If you do not see that date’s report, discuss it with me as it is
possible that they were late or filed an amended report.
9. The report comes in 2 forms:
Raw data (hard to read, but faster as it cuts to the point of the assignment. RCPT means
contributions received. EXP refers to expenses paid from the fund.
PDF–a PDF of each contribution and expense (easier to read but may take longer to review)
NOTE 1: Instead of/in addition to seeing your elected officials name, you might see a group such as
xxxxPAC or Friends of/Texans for xxxx. These are political action committees which have fewer
restrictions on the raising and spending of money than candidates have. If this happens, use the
xxxxPAC, or Friends/Texans for xxxx for your report.
NOTE 2: If you do not see your elected official, that person might use a nickname when running for
office but the Ethics Commission Reports will be in his/her legal name.
NOTE 3: There are some elected officials with more common names than you would expect. Make sure
you enter the full first and last names of your elected official.
Part II: Elected Official Information. Answer the following questions:
1) Identify the names of parties of your state representative and state senator.
2) For each of them, who were their 5 biggest contributors over the report? What kinds of
businesses/individuals seemed to contribute most?
3) What were the 5 biggest expenses? Did it seem to you that the elected officials spent most of the
recent contributions or did they appear to spend some and bank the rest?
4) What was the most common amount contributed?
5) What patterns did you find in the contributors or expenses?
Part III: How useful is the Ethics Commission data. Answer the following questions:
1) Assess the ease of access to the information. Do you think it would be for the average member of the
public to retrieve this information without guidance? Explain.
2) Assess the websites usefulness in helping the average voter use the website to analyze information.
How could the information be configured differently to be more clear to the public?
3) Go to https://www.texastribune.org/ In the search box in the right hand corner, enter “Ethics
Explorer. This website is a product of a free online newspaper that covers Texas. Re-enter your
legislators names. Click each of the links beneath. Take note of the information provided.
4) How is the content of the information different from what you learned from the Texas Ethics
Commission website? Which source is more valuable to you as a citizen? Why? Why do you think the
state ethics commission website and the Texas Tribune sites are so different?
Explain. Why do you think that the data would be out of date for some candidates? Explain.
6) What did you discover in this assignment that surprised, worried, or concerned you? Explain. (Yes,
you must pick something. You may not answer that nothing surprised, worried, or concerned you).
7) From what you learned in this assignment, how powerful do you believe wealthy individuals or groups
are in Texas politics? Explain
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