Campaign Issues: Lobbyists, Special Interests, Contributions and Government Finance

There have been many complaints aired on and off the Internet about the influence special interest groups, lobbyists and campaign contributions have on our Representative and Senators both in the US Congress campaigns and in the Presidential campaigns. Candidates campaigning for office have often criticized their opponents for accepting campaign contributions from corporations and special interest groups. But how do we find out the truth about campaign contributions? How do we find out the truth about which special interest group supports which candidate? How do we find out the truth about the major issues of the current election?

There are many ways to find out the truth. This article will reveal some Internet sources wherein the reader could determine the truth rather than listen to campaign rhetoric designed for the sole purpose of winning an election.

Candidates Stand On Major Issues

Of course, the first and most useful reference for a candidate's stand on the issues is the Thomas Library of Congress at

http://thomas.loc.gov/

Here one can find the candidate's voting record. There are similar sites for individual states if the candidate was a state governor or state legislator.

Special Interest Groups

One can find the Special Interest Group's websites and read what the individual Special Interest Group stands for. The starting point I recommend is

http://usgovinfo.about.com/blorgs.htm

Campaign Contributions

To find out who a candidate received contributions from, try the following website

http://www.opensecrets.org

Opensecrets also contains a lobbying database.

Government Finances

There is a lot of campaign rhetoric about government finances. Anyone interested in finding out more about government finances could try the following site:

http://www.financialstability.gov/

Lobbyists, Special Interest Groups and Campaign contributions are an integral part of our national and local politics. It is up to us to find reliable sources of information so that we can make an intelligent decision on who to vote for. There are many other government sites and political sites that one can view. The amount of material available on the Internet is overwhelming. I hope the few sites I named in this article are helpful.