Teenager builds browser plugin to show you where politicians get their funding [Archive]

Cebu_4_2

22nd June 2014, 04:42 PM

Teenager builds browser plugin to show you where politicians get their funding

http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/304b0516b2f1e2ae901e77db174ce807/200298591/senator_stern_greenhouse.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/19/greenhouse-nicholas-rubin/)

The murky world of lobby groups (http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/06/cable-companies-alleged-to-astroturf-net-neutrality/) bankrolling politicians (http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/10/tesla-missouri-sales-ban/) is garnering more attention, but is there a way to find out which representatives are in the pocket without a lot of tedious research? A 16-year-old programmer has developed a browser plugin that, when you mouse-over the name of a US lawmaker, will serve up a list of which parties have donated to their campaign funds, and the quantities.

Greenhouse (geddit?) is currently available for Chrome, Firefox and Safari -- although our lawyers have (probably) asked us to point out that the data is from the 2012 elections, so they may not be entirely up to date.

Cebu_4_2

22nd June 2014, 04:44 PM

Checking it out now...

New Plugin Shows Exactly Where Your Congressperson’s Money Comes From

You’ll never lose track of who’s funding your Congressperson again. Greenhouse (http://allaregreen.us/) is a new plugin for Chrome and Safari (Firefox coming soon) that automatically highlights the name of any US lawmaker that appears on whichever webpage you happen to browsing. Just hover over their name for a detailed breakdown of exactly where their money comes from:

http://cdn5.daily.represent.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/greenhouse.png?0868a1Greenhouse in action.

The plugin works on any webpage and displays the percentage of campaign contributions by small donors, industry donations to members of the House and Senate, and whether or not they support reforming our corrupt system. With Greenhouse, you can follow the money and see the role of corruption plays in any issue whenever you read the news.
The new plugin comes courtesy of 16-year-old self-taught programmer Nicholas Rubin (http://nicholasrub.in/). Here’s what Nicholas has to say about his work:

It is my hope that providing increased transparency around the amount and source of funding of our elected representatives may play a small role in educating citizens and promoting change. If you use the extension when reading about a Congressional vote on energy policy, for example, maybe you’ll discover that a sponsor of a bill has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the oil and gas industry. Or maybe you’ll learn that the top donors to a member of Congress who opposes tort reform are lawyers and law firms. I use data from the last full election cycle (2012) and plan to update it as more relevant data becomes available. Special thanks to OpenSecrets.org for providing access to that data.

The motto of Greenhouse is: “Some are red. Some are blue. All are green.” What it signifies is that the influence of money on our government isn’t a partisan issue. Whether Democrat or Republican, we should all want a political system that is independent of the influence of big money and not dependent on endless cycles of fundraising from special interests. The United States of America was founded to serve individuals, not big interests or big industries. Yet every year we seem to move farther and farther away from our Founders’ vision.

The Greenhouse plugin is available for free here. (http://allaregreen.us/)