Following The Money In Oakland's Mayoral Campaign Through A New App
OAKLAND (KCBS)— There's a new app and web tool for Oakland residents interested in following the money in November's mayoral race. The idea is to hold candidates accountable while keeping citizens informed.
With 15 candidates it's a crowded race and one that is full of money. In the past you could spend hours scrolling through PDF files or campaign paperwork, but now with the Open Disclosure program, a product of a partnership between the City of Oakland's Public Ethics Commission and OpenOakland, a civic innovation organization, you have scads of information at your fingertips.
"The goal for this project basically was to display campaign finance data in a user friendly way so that an average citizen can understand and wade through the data," explained Whitney Barazoto, chair of the city's Ethics Commission.
Software developers, including Tom Dooner with OpenOakland, an all-volunteer group, let you know who's contributing and how much, which neighborhood they live in, whether it's outside money and large or small checks.
"12 percent of Jean Quan's contributions, she gave herself," he said.
Quan is currently third in the money race behind Libby Schaaf and Bryan Parker.
In the future, the plan calls for expanding the contribution information to all elected races in Oakland. You can see the rankings for yourself here.
