Introducing Our Mayoral Campaign Finance Mapping Project
November’s elections are behind us, and St. Louis voters are increasingly turning their attention toward upcoming municipal elections. The mayoral race is the marquee event, and it features a rematch between Mayor Tishaura Jones and Alderman Cara Spencer. Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler has also thrown his hat into the ring. These campaigns are powered by donations from individuals, businesses, and other organizations. Whether it is paying consultants, mailing literature, or printing yard signs, running a modern campaign is quite expensive. These donations also help donors get the attention of winning candidates, who can then steer lucrative contracts, real estate development incentives, and other valuable considerations to donors.
At Mound City Messenger, we have a mission to do our part in educating fellow city residents about important issues like who is financing local political campaigns. We believe that more transparency and public awareness in these matters are good for our city. This mapping project has been created in this spirit.
Campaigns are required to submit quarterly reports to the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC), detailing the money both raised and expended on a quarterly basis. In this mapping project, MCM volunteers are organizing this data and presenting it in a visual way that we hope readers find useful. We decided to map donors who contribute $500 or more to a candidate. Otherwise, there would be too many donors to map in a way that readers would find useful. By limiting the map to higher dollar donors, we hope to give readers a window into the people and industries financially supporting each candidate’s campaign in a significant way.
This map is a “living document” that will be updated with future campaign finance report releases. This first iteration uses data from the two most recent campaign filings. These were the first quarters with both Mayor Jones and Alderman Spencer actively raising funds for the election. Butler joined the contest at a later date. Between disclosures, we will continue to update the map with more information about high dollar donors. The map will also be used in future stories about specific candidates and/or donors. Volunteers are already looking into trends that mapping the data has brought to light.
We hope that this project improves readers’ understanding of both the candidates’ bases of support and local political “movers and shakers” whose names aren’t on the ballot. In our statement of purpose, we committed to shining a spotlight on the wealthy individuals and interests that run St. Louis. This map is a step toward making good on that promise.
Click here for a direct link to the map on littlesis.org.
In keeping with Mound City Messengers DIY ethos, readers should feel free to email us at editorial@moundcitymessenger.com with information about donors that could help add details and context to the map. Do you see someone’s name who got a tax incentive for their company’s recent development projects? Let us know!
