Legistorm: Transparency's Sidekick

Like many web sites, we try to keep tabs on how people are using our site. We are usually pleased to see mention of us, even if we don't always agree with the way our site's data is used. Accountability can be messy sometimes and that means that dull-witted analyses often appear alongside sharp insights in the public arena.

But this new age of blogging can also lead to some downright irresponsible claims about members of Congress and their staff. And whenever congressional aides are mentioned in news stories, LegiStorm is usually cited as a source, at least for salary and other public record data we have.

This past weekend, a story has been circulating on the web about a member of Congress and a staffer. We won't mention who because the story was so lacking in any indicia of truthfulness that as far as we can tell, it was made up from whole cloth.

Since we started, we at LegiStorm have had a lot of things we have wanted to tell our site users. We are a site primarily of data but the data can tell stories.

Take the story by Susan Crabtree in yesterday's The Hill newspaper, which uses our data to show that the campaign of a powerful member of Congress, Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), paid more than $2,000 for a rifle and other weapons paraphernalia. What makes it more interesting is that Murtha, a close confidant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and appropriations subcommittee chairman, may have violated both House ethics rules and federal statute in converting them to personal use by giving them as a gift to an aide. And it took us no more than a few minutes to discover that his campaign had officially - and erroneously - claimed this gun as a campaign "advertising" expense. His office described this as a "clerical error". The chief of staff said he refunded the money to the campaign committee after The Hill asked about it.

All this was available through public records which told a compelling story. In fact, it was information from two sources that, when combined, made it so interesting.