Follow the money

Related SourceWatch Resources

• banking
• Bush's Rangers
• ENRON Corporation
• excepted investment fund --[1]
• funders
• Jack Abramoff
• Political donor network
• pro-Israel lobby
• Soft_money
• Soft money groups
• The Donatelli Group
• Thomas D. DeLay
• 501c4
• 527 committee

External Resources

• followthemoney.org, the web site of Money in State Politics.
• opensecrets.org web site of the Center for Responsive Politics. Your guide to the money in U.S. elections.
• politicsOL.com web site: "During the Watergate scandal, Deep Throat told investigative reporters to 'follow the money.' Well, now you can, too! ... learn who's giving contributions to your Representative and What industries & PACs are causing campaign coffers to overflow."
• Follow the Money, Arabsong: "The list that runs alongside this column is the donation[?] (in Detroit we call a bribe a 'bribe') that the Israeli lobby makes to American politicians."
• The Center for Consumer Freedom: a conservative funder/foundation watchdog organization. While funded by various corporate interests its database contains useful information.
• Center for Consumer Freedom Info Files for Activists, Foundations, Celebrities, and Key Players.
• Media Transparency: a funder/foundation watchdog organization.
• Capital Eye, a money-in-politics newsletter by the Center for Responsive Politics
• Jill Junnola, Perspective: Who funds whom?, CampusWatch.org from Energy Compass, October 4, 2002.
• Integrity in Science Database of Scientists' and Non-Profits' Ties to Industry: The Center for Science in the Public Interest.
• Foundation Finder and grantsmart.org
• Campaign Contributions of Post-war Contractors 1990-2002, part of the Center for Public Integrity's project Windfalls of War
• Political Money Line
• Guidestar: With free registration you can access the U.S. Internal Revenue Service 990 forms for annual returns from non-profit groups. Information available in these reports includes income for the year, total income over the preceding four years, the names and details of any payments to office bearers and payments of over $50,000 for the top five employees. Guidestar also provides more detailed - but expensive - information on non-profit group.
• ExxonSecrets.org is an interactive website, sponsored by Greenpeace and based on the research of CLEAR (Clearinghouse on Advocacy and Environmental Research), illustrates how Exxonmobil has funneled over $12 million dollars to think tanks and others since 1998 to influence the debate on global climate change.

Headlines/Articles

• 22 February 2000: "Follow the money. The pundits have it all wrong: Bush isn't the 'big money' candidate, but just another grass-roots reformer like [John] McCain" by David Horowitz, Salon.com.
• 16 August 2000: "Why Kosovo? Follow the Money!" by Justin Raimondo, antiwar.com.
• Jul/Aug 2001: "Follow the Money" by William F. Wechsler, Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations).
• 15 October 2001: "Follow the Money, and Follow It Fast: The Need For An International Fiscal Coalition To Fight Money Laundering" by Anita Ramasastry, FindLaw.com.
• 7 January 2002: "Follow the Money: The Bush-bin Laden Connection", ParanoiaMagazine.com.
• 21 May 2002: "Follow the Money. Bush, 9/11 and Deep Threat" by Fran Shor, CounterPunch: "What did the President know and when did he know it?"
• Sep/Oct 2002: "Follow the Money" by Brian Hayes, American Scientist Online.
• 3 October 2002: "Follow the Money and the Documents" by Farai Chideya, Pop and Politics.
• 22 January 2003: "Meme Watch: Follow the Money. The taxpaying class and the welfare class are one and the same" by Timothy Noah, Slate.
• 5 February 2003: "Follow the Money: Confusion at Treasury" by Richard W. Rahn, Cato Institute.
• 5 March 2003: "Why War with Iraq? Follow the Money" by Richard M. Ebeling, Future of Freedom Foundation.
• 12 September 2003: "Activists must follow the money. Protestors in Cancun understand that neo-liberalism is a form of war" by Naomi Klein, The Guardian.
• 15 September 2003: "Follow the money" by John Metzler, World Tribune.
• 18 November 2003: "Energy: Follow the Money," Center for American Progress. ("Progress Report").
• 21 November 2003: "Money's Influence on House Energy Vote Could Extend to Senate," Capital Eye.
• Money Talks - Follow the Money. See Who Supports Your Senator. "On November 25 the Senate Voted to Pass the Medicare Reform Bill - See How All of the Senators voted and who supports their campaigns by industry and amount. Information is for the 2004 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically on Tuesday, November 18, 2003. From www.opensecrets.org."
• 14 January 2004: "Follow the Money" by Martin Mayer, New York Times: "It has been exactly one month since President George W. Bush announced the capture of Saddam Hussein. American officials interrogating Mr. Hussein are obviously interested in what he knows about illegal weapons programs in Iraq, human rights violations and other crimes. Whether he will cooperate remains to be seen. ... But there is another line of questioning officials might pursue -- one that depends less on the cooperation of Mr. Hussein than on the assistance of the United States Federal Reserve Bank. Among Mr. Hussein's possessions when he was captured was three-quarters of a million dollars in United States currency in crisp new bills. Whence came the gentleman's stash? ... Answering this question would help our understanding of terrorist financial networks. And if the cash is sequentially numbered, as is likely, then the question could be easily answered. ... All United States currency is printed by the United States Mint, to the order of one of the 12 banks of the Federal Reserve System. It comes into circulation through a bank that has an account at the Fed for which it was printed. The Fed deducts the face value of the bills from that account, and an armored car takes them to their new owner. ... That regional Federal Reserve Bank keeps a record that identifies the purchasing bank."
• 24 January 2004: "Tauzin Expected To Leave House For Trade Group. Lawmaker Declined Hollywood Job" by Frank Ahrens, Washington Post: "Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) is close to a decision to leave Congress to head the pharmaceutical industry's trade association after turning down an offer from Hollywood to succeed Jack Valenti as the movie industry's top lobbyist, sources in Washington and California said yesterday."