X-posted from The Albany Project.
I never imagined that when we relaunched TAP last winter that Sheldon Silver would get arrested within weeks or that Dean Skelos would meet the same fate weeks after that. I never thought we'd see Albany lawmakers running scared and too paranoid to do typical business as usual Albany stuff because a certain US Attorney was tapping all their phones. This legislative session in Albany was unlike any we've seen in years, maybe ever. Because of that, TAP has been mostly a content hub sine the relaunch. But that's about to change.
I always imagined TAP 2.0 as both a content and an organizing hub. Now that the legislative session is over, it's time to get busy building the movement that will finally break the logjam of endemic corruption in Albany. And our first big project is a doozy.
Working with the top-notch data analysts at Competitive Advantage Research, we're going to build the Death Star of NYS campaign finance data. This new hub is a continuously updated, comprehensive database of the campaign finance records of every member of the legislature and every statewide elected official in New York. Every lawmaker in Albany will have their own page with not only up to date campaign finance records, but also other data like JCOPE files and their financial disclosures. Users will be able to see a dashboard filled with searchable, sortable, user friendly data presented in easy to understand graphs for every rep in the state. They'll even be able to generate interactive "baseball cards" for any Albany lawmaker they choose.
And you can help us build it.
There are many states that have portals that allow citizens to access some of this data. We're going to put all of this data in one place and make it easy for New Yorkers to understand and act upon what they learn. This database will live on its own site and be free to access for anyone, including journalists. (Imagine what someone like Bill Mahoney, who writes more about campaign finance in NYS than just about anyone, would do with this)
There's a reason that all of this data is hard to find, harder to make sense of and even harder to use here in New York. The politicians in Albany don't want New Yorkers to have easy access to this stuff. It does not serve their interests in any way, shape or form.
That's why this project will be such a game changer. Albany pols will no longer be able to assume New Yorkers don't know who is funding them because they can't figure out how to liberate that data from BOE and can't make sense of it even if they did. We're going to put a powerful tool in the hands of everyday New Yorkers: knowledge.
And that's going to drive Albany nuts.
We find ourselves at a potentially very critical time in New York. We've seen the leaders of both chambers of our legislature arrested on federal corruption charges. Albany players are scared of their own shadows because they never know if a certain US Attorney might be listening. Everyone is expecting even more arrests because Preet Bharara is obviously on a mission. Andrew Cuomo and his allies in the Senate GOP just told 2.5 million previously unengaged New Yorkers to drop dead. The opt-out movement is sweeping the state like wildfire. Zephyr Teachout is recruiting teachers and parents to get off the sidelines and run for office. Albany just collectively shrugged at Eric Schneiderman's End New York Corruption Now Act. We're fast approaching a potential constitutional convention decision in 2017. Hillary Clinton could very likely be at the top of the ticket in New York next year.
I could go on, but I won't. You know all of this as well.
Everything is coming together and the stars are aligning. The time has never been better to seize the initiative and finally clean house in Albany. I've never seen such potential for real, meaningful reform of our rotting state government.
There's so much work to be done. Building this Death Star aimed directly at corrupt Planet Albany is a huge (and hugely important) first step, but it's only the first step of many.
Help us get this thing built and running and let's eff up Albany real good.
The time is now.
UPDATE: Jon Reznick of Competitive Advantage Research just described the project this way on Facebook:
Using a lot of data and a little code, we are going to spit a dashboard on NYS political finance. More than just a tarted-up search tool amplifying the same data hygiene problems that have beguiled researchers for an age, we will convey distinctive enhancements and analysis, using visuals and statistics derived from the entire data population.
We need your support to generate an open-source code-base for this public-facing information utility, which will automatically incorporate fresh filings in perpetuity -- a dramatic change from the one-off reports published by good government groups.
This going to be good, folks.
Let's do it.