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The Tobacco Toll |
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Additional Campaign Finance Resources The Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC is the official source of federal campaign finance data. Information on donations to and from candidate committees, official political action committees (PACs), individual donations, soft money contributions, and political party committees is available through the FEC web site and the Washington DC office. Some state level data is available through the FEC. The combined federal/state disclosure and election directory identifies organizations and individuals at the state and national level who have a responsibility to disclose information on money in politics. Common Cause is an independent non-profit advocacy organization focusing on campaign finance reform and other issues that enhance citizens' participation in democracy. Their soft money database is searchable by party, donor and industry. Common Cause has also undertaken a study of tobacco contributions in several states, and has released reports on tobacco influence in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin. These and other studies are available on the Common Cause website. The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group that tracks money in politics and its impact on elections and public policy. The website allows for searches by industry, candidate, contributor and political party. Select state level data is available. National Institute on Money in State Politics maintains a database of state level campaign finance data. States are searchable by candidate or contributor. Select a state from their database and search for information on tobacco contributions under the "General Business" sector. Public Citizen has a variety of tobacco-related information available through its internal search engine. Available information includes a searchable database of contributions to 527 groups, lobbying statistics and background information on campaign finance reform. Campaign Finance Information Center provides a searchable database and links to state level campaign finance information. The Center has information on most states and some federal data is available. The University of California - San Francisco web site contains state reports on tobacco industry political activity that provide an in-depth look at the tobacco industry's political activities and the influence on state level policies.
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