The Federal Election Commission debuted its application programming interface (API) enabling the public easy access to 40 years of information. The API will open files on political candidates, fundraising groups, total spending and fundraising for various elections. (fedscoop, July 9, 2015, by Greg Otto)
The Sunlight Foundation has published a guide to help users with the new API while applauding the FEC for releasing data in bulk. The guide shows users how to navigate that bulk to obtain relevant information. (Sunlight Foundation, July 8, 2015, by Bob Lannon)
Alexander Howard, Huffington Post, July 8, 2015, sees the new API as a significant step to shore up the democracy in the age of unlimited campaign contributions. While tied up by partisan gridlock, the FEC has effectively punted so that others can cast light on graft and corruption.