Week 7- Level 1 Challenge Option: I Want Money

I Want Money

It’s no secret: money plays a huge role in governing. Lucky for us, there are a couple of organizations that make it easy for us to follow the money. For this Challenge, you will identify the largest campaign contributors to your members of Congress.

PREPARATION

Use votesmart.org Links to an external site. to determine who your Congressional representatives are. Remember: we are all represented by two Senators who represent the state in which we live and one House member who represents the district in which we live= three US Congress representatives that you will be researching.
Use data from the Center for Responsive Politics (opensecrets.org Links to an external site.) to research the campaign contributions to both of your Senators and your House member.

Remember: The idea behind this Challenge is to familiarize you with the amount of money that is institutionalized within our political system and to illustrate who is financially supporting your members of Congress. For a democracy to function properly, it is essential for the people to hold their representatives accountable; understanding the various moneyed interests to which our representatives may be beholden can help us in this regard.

ACTION

For each of your three representatives, use the data from the Center for Responsive Politics to determine the amount of campaign contributions each received during his/her most recent campaign cycle. Remember: Senators must run for reelection every six years, Representatives every two years.
For each representative, recreate the example table below so you can list the top five campaign donors for their most recent election cycle.
Then, spend a few minutes researching these donors to try to get an idea of their basic “Interest(s)” in the candidate.

[EXAMPLE]

Representative Smith, IN-Republican from US Senate

2007-2012 Election Cycle Contributions: $30,000,000

	Title	Amount	Industry	Interest(s)
Top Donor # 1	Goldman Sachs	$90,000	Global investment banking and securities	Republicans tend to oppose new regulations and oversight in the banking industry.
Top Donor # 2
Top Donor # 3
Top Donor # 4
Top Donor # 5

REFLECTION

Write a 2-page reflection paper addressing the following:

Did any of the donors and the amounts they donated surprise you? Why or why not?
Do any of your representatives have the same donors? Yes or no? Why might that be?
Do you believe that money from these donors influence the actions of your representatives? Why or why not?
Do you see a problem with the way money is involved in our political system? Explain.

SUBMISSION

Please submit the following to Assignments:

The table you completed (one for each of the three representatives that you researched).
Your 2-page reflection paper.

RESOURCES

Title	Center for Responsive Politics
URL	http://www.opensecrets.org/ Links to an external site.
Annotation	This website will be your primary resource for this Challenge. The database collected here, along with additional news and analysis, makes this website second to none for understanding and tracking money and influence in politics. Spend some time browsing this site before delving into the challenge, as some of the resources here may prove to be helpful in both this challenge and others.

Title	The Sunlight Foundation
URL	http://sunlightfoundation.com/ Links to an external site.
Annotation	The Sunlight Foundation is another watchdog and oversight organization that tracks money and influence in politics. The database here and resources will be valuable in providing more information about current and past issues, as well as information and position votes for your representatives.

Title	The Project on Government Oversight (POGO)
URL	http://www.pogo.org/ Links to an external site.
Annotation	POGO is another organization that tracks money, influence, and corruption in politics. This site provides resources, news, reports, and analysis on a host of issues and people that will be invaluable for this Challenge.

Title	How Money Rules Washington
URL	http://www.pogo.org/our-work/videos-and-podcasts/2013/how-money-rules-washington.html Links to an external site.
Annotation	This is an interview by Bill Moyers with Shelia Krumholz, the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, and Danielle Brian, the executive director of POGO, discussing money and influence in Washington.

Title	Dark Money Politics
URL	http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/dark-money-politics/?src=twrhp Links to an external site.
Annotation	This op-ed discusses how so-called “dark money” from non-profit organizations has infiltrated politics, allowing these organizations a position of powerful influence in Washington. This op-ed also uses data provided by the Center for Responsive politics, making this piece an example of how this kind of data can be utilized.

RUBRIC

	No credit	Below expectations	Meets expectations
Researching Your Representatives	The student did not accurately list all three representatives AND/OR most of the required data was missing or incomplete.	The student accurately listed all three representatives, but some of the required data was missing or incomplete.	The student accurately listed all three representatives and provided all required data for each.
Interest(s)	For most of the donors, the student did NOT accurately identify the interest(s) that they would have in each candidate.	For most of the donors, the student accurately identified the interest(s) that they would have in each candidate.	The student accurately identified the interest(s) that each donor would have in each candidate.
Reflection	For the 4 questions, the student appears to simply answer the question and does not provide evidence of thoughtful reflection; OR the student does not respond to 1 or more of the questions.	The student responds to all 4 questions, but some of the responses are not fully developed and appear to be lacking detail or thoughtful reflection.	For each of the 4 questions, the student provides complete and thoughtful responses.