Methodology for this project: The purpose of this database reporting project was to explain how the health care debate is shaped by a Washington custom — former congressional staffers and congressmen who take jobs with lobbying firms, giving their clients special access to Capitol Hill. The project is a joint effort of Medill News Service, a program of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism; the Tribune Washington Bureau; and the Center for Responsive Politics.

Reporters for Medill News Service compiled a list of former Capitol Hill staffers and members of Congress who registered as lobbyists in 2008 or 2009 as the health care debate was unfolding, using data from the Center for Responsive Politics and other sources. To be listed, the ex-staffers must have worked for one of a select list of lawmakers or congressional committees within the past 20 years. The lawmakers and congressional committees were chosen due to their notable role in the ongoing health care reform debate.

How we got what we've got: A team of reporters collected the information and created a list of former staffers who had worked for the five major House and Senate committees involved in shaping the health care reform bills, the top Democrat and Republican on each committee and the top leadership of Congress. A handful of former congressmen were also discovered among the lobbyists. The list of staffers was taken both from the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org, a nonprofit watchdog organization, and Legistorm.org, a nonpartisan Web site that holds congressional staff salary information. The Medill reporting team then determined whether the ex-staffers and congressmen were registered as lobbyists in 2008 or 2009 by comparing the list of former staffers against a lobbying database created by the Center for Responsive Politics. Numbers for 2009 encompass only the first nine months of the year.

If the ex-staffers registered to lobby in 2008 or 2009, the following information was collected in a spreadsheet: names of the lobbyists’ clients, the amount those clients spent on overall lobbying, whether the client was in a health-related industry, whether the client used an outside lobbying firm or an in-house lobbyist, the total federal campaign contributions of the individual lobbyists and the total federal campaign contributions of the clients. The campaign contributions included donations from the clients’ political action committees and the clients’ employees to all candidates, leadership PACs and party committees in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.

Most of the information was available on either OpenSecrets.org or Legistorm.org. Any material not found on those Web sites was taken from other public records or official Web sites, such as a client’s site or the congressional site of a member of Congress.  The Center for Responsive Politics provided the lobbying and campaign contributions data.

What we don't have: The list of staffers-turned-lobbyists for the selected members of Congress and congressional committees is not exhaustive. There could be missing names due to incomplete disclosure reports or because the methodology was limited to using the names listed on two Web sites: OpenSecrets.org and Legistorm.com. However, every effort was taken to make the list as complete and accurate as possible.

Lobbying disclosure forms filed by lobbyists do not require that they disclose the specific members of Congress they lobbied, nor the specific bill or amendment being discussed (though some will voluntarily offer this information). So it cannot be said definitely from the data alone that a lobbyist had access to a specific member of Congress due to previous work relationships.

Sources: The Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets.org, Legistorm.org, congressional site of a member of Congress, Medill News Service and Tribune reporting

Credits: This database was reported and produced by graduate students in the Washington Program of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. These Medill News Service reporters were assisted with data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics. The student reporters are: Shahzad Chaudhary, Rachel Claytor, Jessica Harbin, Markham Heid, Kellen Henry, Alex Keefe, Bridget Macdonald, Kristin Maiorano, Kathleen McCullough, Michelle Minkoff, Jane Park, Kathryn Rogers, Diane Rusignola, Kiran Sood, Alexandra Thomas and Kristian Weatherspoon.

User interface design and development: Keith Claxton