Politicians are those annoying people who--drink in hand--can stare at a uuencoded file for hours, fall into a sexual reverie involving ASCII entities, and then weave their way to the nearest TV camera to pontificate about pornography on the Internet.
But, you ask, if they are so dumb, why are they so rich? Sometimes the latter *is* a mystery, reminiscent of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.
Take the case of a man who can hardly pay his bills, but who gets elected to national political office and goes off to Washington for a few years. Then--lo and behold!--on his simple politician's salary, he suddenly manages to maintain two fine homes, one inside the beltway in Chevy Chase and another in his home town community of Rat's Ass, to purchase new cars for his wife and himself, to accumulate lakefront property in a neighboring county, and to stash away a nice sum of cash in a foreign bank account.
If the "simple politician's salary" bit sounds improbable, it probably is. Let's face it: many politicians are on the take. They may have hidden sources of income involving illegal payoffs from corporations, lobbying groups, or individuals. Are you a student? Then you will be proud to know that educational commissions and associations are also a hot new conduit for political bribes.
This article suggests a few basic procedures for finding out whether that special politician you have in mind is getting more on the side than ASCII sex. Honest politicians, of course, will have nothing to fear from any of the following.
Is what I am about to do legal? you ask. Of course it is. To reassure yourself, pull out your world-wide web browser and take a peak at one of the many data service companies, say Insights, Inc. (located at http://isis.iah.com/insights/background/). They promise, using only an individual or business name and/or address, to provide sufficient information for:
How do they get away with this? Simple. They legally search public records. Much of this public-record information is computerized, although some of it is not. In any event, I do not advocate illegal or questionable access methods, or the breaking of any laws. Checking up on the (possibly criminal) politician of your choice doesn't have to be a crime.
Still not convinced? Hop over to Infonet (http://www.infi.net/~dgs.assc/locator/bgrndnfo.html), which for a fee will mine public records for nuggets like:
Well, if they can do it, so can you.
So where do you start? Well, first see what the
politician him/herself has to say about the money flows. Federal
law (5 USC app. 6, section 101 et seq.) requires members of
Congress to file *Financial Disclosure Statements* yearly. The
Financial Disclosure form has nine parts:
Want to see Newt Gingrich's personal finances for the year
1993? Direct your web browser to http://www.cais.com/
newtwatch/93sei.html.
Many state, county, and city elections have similar
requirements, either on a personal or a campaign basis. Want to
see a copy of the *Candidate Campaign Statement-Long
Form-Form 490* for Joel Ventresca, candidate for Mayor of
San Francisco? Visit Campaign Net at http://tmx.com/sfvote.
These statements represent what a politician says he or
she has or gets. But the really interesting items--like those
kickbacks from the Cali cartel--not surprisingly go unreported.
To get the good stuff, you will need your full hacker armor.
The first thing to get is your politician's *social security
number (SSN)*. It's not difficult. Your politician loves to be
photographed doing his/her civic duty of voting. Which means
he or she fills out a *voter's registration card* (public
information) which will contain said politician's name, address,
date of birth, party affiliation, and--usually--social security
number. Voter files may be obtained at your politician's local
county court house, as well as on many on-line data bases. A
person's SSN is the common key that links together many
commercial and government data bases.
Can't find the SSN number on the voter's registration
card? Then try *DMV* records. The insurance lobby has made
sure that driver's records are easy to get, along with the details
of any accidents, and critical driver information such as height,
color of eyes, address--and social security number, if the latter
was required information on the form. (California won't give
out addresses, if a request has been filed not to do so--the
"movie star" exemption.) In about 20 states the individual's
social security number is the driver's license number.
Still searching? Then go with the triple whammy of the
major credit bureaus--TRW, TransUnion, and CBI/Equifax.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act essentially implies you must be
contemplating a business relationship--such as selling a car,
renting an apartment, giving a loan, or attempting to collect on a
judgment--with a party to request his credit report. But the
*header* information in the file--such as social security number,
date of birth, address, and spouse's name--is legally available to
anyone, and your inquiry (unlike an actual credit report) will
leave no footprints. The addresses and phone numbers are:
Are you a hacker-journalist? Then take a peak at the
National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR; located at http://www.nicar.org/). Their bylaws prohibit
them from selling data to nonjournalists (not that you want to
*buy* data anyway--we're just exploring *possibilities*). But
data is "sold at or below costs to journalism organizations or
individuals for legitimate journalism uses only." (Doing your
civic duty to keep tabs on your politician is, naturally, a
legitimate journalistic use of the data.) Their data bases include
these publicly-available information sets, among others:
The existence of such data immediately brings to mind a
barrage of possibly relevant questions:
Is there an incestuous relationship between the donors
to your politician's campaign and subsequent federal
government contracts? (It always starts somewhere . . .) To find
out, compare federal procurement data with campaign
contributions. Campaign contribution data from the Federal
Election Commission are supposed to include all contributions
by individuals and political action groups (PACs) to a
politician's federal election campaign. The Government
Services Agency, meanwhile, keeps Individual Contract Action
Reports (ICARs), which has information about the federal
agency granting a government contract, the identity of the
contractor, and the contract dollar amount.
Has your politician recently purchased a new home?
What is its value? What was the down payment? Is he or she
living suspiciously beyond his or her means? What is your
politician's race or gender (DNA sequence?)? To start to
answer these questions, look at home mortgage data. The
Federal Reserve Board started keeping data like this in order to
check on "fair" lending practices. So the Fed began tracking
home and home-improvement loans, as well as bank-purchased
loans. (And just to help the enterprising hacker, when your
politician is buying, or possibly refinancing, a house, most
banks will now ask for his Social Security Number on the Deed
of Trust, especially as the Federal National Mortgage
Association now requires it.)
Does your politician own an aircraft? What's its value?
Did he purchase it with cash? Check the FAA's aircraft
records.
Does your politician own a gun even while advocating
gun control? If he bought the gun from a dealer, ATF records
can help out here.
And so on.
Now let's get to the nitty-gritty: *city, county, and state
records*. The *City Clerk* in your politician's home town will
have a list of business licenses (name, address, date) and
building permits (name, address, cost of construction). The
*County Clerk* or *County Recorder* should have liens on file
(lien holder, payment agreements), a Probate Index (estate
settlements), records of lawsuits and judgments, powers of
attorney with respect to real estate, records of mortgages on
personal property, and bankruptcy papers. Here you can find out
not only the value of your politician's property, but also the
names, addresses, and property values of everyone who lives on
his street. *City and County Courts* will also maintain a Civil
Index (civil actions, plaintiffs and defendants, as well as civil
files: description of any disputed property or valuables), a
Criminal Index (criminal cases in Superior Court, as well as
criminal files), and voter's registration files.
The *county tax collector* will have a description of any
property owned, as well as taxes paid on real estate and personal
property. The *county assessor* may also have maps and photos,
or even blueprints showing the location of your politician's hot
tub. The *Secretary of State* will have corporation files and
possibly annual reports of your politician's company.
Okay, let's go over it again, taking it slow. With your
politician's social security number in hand, you can get header
information from the major credit bureaus. This will give you a
seven to ten year history of addresses, as well any spousal
name or names. The latter is very important, since your average
politician's instinct will be to keep questionable sums of money
and suspect personal assets in the name of his or her spouse,
sibling, business associate, or girlfriend.
Next you go to the state Department of Motor Vehicles,
to find out your politician's tastes in cars, trucks, motorcyles,
boats, trailers, and recreational vehicles. Of course if your
politician leases any of the above, he or she will not show up as
the vehicle owner. So the next thing to do is to run the license
plate number of that Caddy parked out front, since this will give
you the name of both lessee and lessor.
Next you talk to someone who does business with your
politician, and who thus has a permissible reason under the Fair
Credit Reporting Act to run a credit check. This will give you a
listing of all your politician's credit accounts, current balances,
payment history, and payment terms. Any bankruptcies in the
last ten years, or liens or judgments in the last seven years, will
be listed. Did your politician suddenly receive a huge campaign
contribution from some source, soon after your politician found
himself stuck with a quarter million dollar judgment against
him? If so, he won't be the first person who has sold out his
country to pay off a personal financial debt.
What property does your politician own? The offices of
County Recorder and County Tax Assessor will give you the
land value, improvement value, and total assesssed values for
any property. They will frequently have also the amounts
received for any sales, the sale dates, as well as information on
the mortgage-holder or other lender. Did your politician get a
large loan from Washoe International State Bank just about the
time Washoe International State Bank was having trouble with
state banking regulators, who are overseen by a legislative
committee on which your politician sits?
Does your politician own a business of any
consequential size? Then run a business credit check. Who are
(were) your politician's business associates? Who are the
company officers and principals? Or--if as is commonly the
case--your politician is a lawyer, who are the law partners?
Look also for bankruptcies, tax liens, public records filings,
judgments, and UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) financing
statements. These documents may turn out to be filled with all
sorts of unexpected names, dates, and activities.
On what honorary commissions does your politician
serve? Do the commission's audited financial statements show
any payments for services not rendered? This was apparently
what New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco was
wondering, when he noted, on January 9, 1996, in a letter to the
National Center on Education and the Economy: "Statement 11
on your 1990 Federal 990 and Note 5 on your 1990 audited
financial statements indicate that the Center had retained the
services of Hillary Rodham Clinton, a member of the Rose Law
firm, to direct your Workforce Skills Program while she also
served as a member of the Center's Board of Trustees.
Statement 11 of the 1990 filing indicates that Mrs. Clinton
received $23,000 for unspecified services. The 1990 filing also
refers to a second contract, which was reported to be in the
amount of $150,000 covering the period February 1, 1991
through January 31, 1992, and a similar statement appears on
Statement 11 attached to the 1991 Federal 990."
Moreover, did either Hillary Clinton or the Rose Law
firm pay taxes on the sums received? (A little birdie tells me
neither one did.)
The office of the Secretary of State in any of the 50
states can be a source of UCC searches. UCC Indices will show
whether your politician is listed as either a debtor or secured
party. (Okay. So your politician is up to his neck in debt to
Jackson Stephens. That doesn't mean he listens to a word of
political advice Stephens gives him. No way.)
Superior Courts, Federal Bankruptcy Courts, Small
Claims Courts, and city, county, and state tax authorities keep
records of tax liens, court judgments, and bankruptcy filings.
These reveal not only outstanding financial obligations, but also
personal and company affiliations, partners, subsidiaries, and
dependents. (Is there a Don Lasater or Don Tyson in your
politician's background?)
Does your politician really have those degrees he
claims? Call the college registrar. Despite what you think,
many politicians don't believe in their own "self-made man"
rhetoric, and will enhance their resumes with unearned degrees.
This in itself may only be a venal sin, but someone who records
falsehoods in this area will likely also lie in others.
Has your politician been in the news? Check your
library's newspaper file, along with reader's guides, and other
news indexes. On the Internet, you can quickly search for your
politician's name among the 8 billion words on 16 million
WWW pages, using the new Alta Vista search utility created by
Digital Equipment Corporation. You can also do a name or
keyword search through all 13,000 Usenet groups. Be sure to read Lee Lapin's book The Whole Spy
Catalog (Intelligence Incorporated, 2228 S. El Camino Real,
San Mateo, CA 94403; ISBN 1-880231-10-7) for literally
dozens of names, addresses, and phone numbers of data
information providers, along with an evaluation of their
services. You don't need to patronize these services in order to
steal ideas from them.
Basically none of these providers specializes in
politicians, so after a little self-education and set-up, you may
be in a position to start your own business in political
investigations. Bill yourself as a 21st Century Sherlock
Holmes. (*Somebody* has to stop the nefarious influence of
DigiCrime, Inc., found at http://www.digicrime.com/.)
Oh. About those foreign bank accounts. Well, I'll leave
that to your imagination. But a little birdie told me if you call a
military base computer, find an out-dial number, call another
military base, and so on, going through a *minimum* of three
military bases, any trace back will stop at the third military
base.
Whatever you do, don't do anything illegal.
Posted to the Internet November 4, 1996.
Schedule I: Earned Income
Schedule II: Payments in Lieu of Honoraria Made to
Charity
Schedule III: Assets and "Unearned Income"
Schedule IV: Transactions.
Schedule V: Liabilities
Schedule VI: Gifts
Schedule VII: Fact-Finding, Substantial Participation,
and Other Travel
Schedule VIII: Positions
Schedule IX: Agreements
TRW
660 N. Central Expressway, Exit 28
Allen, TX 75002
Automated phone: 800-392-1122
Phone: 800-422-4879
CBI/Equifax
5505 Peachtree Dunwoody, #600
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241.
Automated phone: 800-685-1111
Phone: 800-685-5000
Trans Union
P.O.Box 7000
North Olmsted OH 44070-7000
Automated phone: 800-851-2674
Phone: (714) 738-3800, ext. 6450
Organization: Government Services Agency
Databases: Federal Procurement Contracts for 1992-1994.
Organization: Federal Election Commission
Databases: Campaign Contributions for the 1991-1994
election cycle.
Organization: Federal Reserve Board
Databases: home mortgage loans covered by Home Mortgage
Disclosure Act (for 1992-1994)
Organization: Federal Aviation Administration
Databases: Service Difficulty Reports, Airman Directory,
Aircraft Registry
Organization: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Databases: Uniform Crime Reports
Organization: Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Databases: Gun Dealer Licenses