In January a research group launched an online project that is sure to interest general counsel. Not only does it make public a company’s political spending, it also shows how influential the company has been.
The venture is called MapLight. Founded in 2005, the Berkeley-based nonprofit follows the 200 top contributing companies and organizations, ranking them according to total political contributions. By clicking on the contributor, viewers can see individual bills it favored, and how successful those positions were. MapLight ranks the “most influential” companies by counting how many positions ultimately carried the day.
