Data: Other Spending - Electioneering Communcations

[PaulClark2]

Started at 2012 Presidential Outside Spending (Other Spending) and scrolled down to electioneering communications

https://fec-dev-web.18f.gov/elections/president/2012/?tab=spending

Then selected Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies -- Landed on a 2009-2010 page for some reason

https://fec-dev-web.18f.gov/committee/C30001655
Should have data for 2010, 2011 and 2012, but that data doesn’t show up.
select extract (year from cvg_end_dt), f.mrf_rec, f.cvg_end_dt, f.form_tp, f.ttl_disb_this_stmt from form_9 f where cmte_id = 'C30001655' and mrf_rec = 'Y';

[jmcarp]

Thanks for reporting. Here's what's going on:

• The cycle defaults to 2009-2010 because this committee's only F1 was filed in 2010
• No reports show up because this committee has no reports in factpacsandparties_f3x

If you look up this committee in FEC Viewer, we get the same message: "No financial activity reported."

We can change either of these behaviors--currently, the committee detail views don't use Form 9 filings, but we can add them if that's the behavior you're looking for. Let me know what you think @PaulClark2.

CC @LindsayYoung @jwchumley

[PaulClark2]

Thanks Josh but this committee will never show up in factpacsandparties_f3x because it is a Form 9 filer.

[jmcarp]

Right, what I'm saying is that the financial reports we're currently using on the committee detail page only pull from the fact* tables--and it looks like FEC Viewer isn't using Form 9 filings either. We can easily add Form 9 data for electioneering committees, but we'll have to decide what information to show in those cases.

What's the priority of adding Form 9 data? Is this something we should do before launch?

[PaulClark2]

If that's the case then all of the electioneering communications (ECs) and communication cost (CCs) links from the "Other Spending" tab will break. ECs file Form 9 and CCs file Form 7. This is a presentation and internal testing problem. These should probably be removed from the Other Spending display.

[PaulClark2]

@AmyKort @wluoFEC @jwchumley should chime in. I don't think we need to have the F9 data ready for launch but we may want to remove the EC data from the Other Spending tab because we know it's a known issue.

[PaulClark2]

FYI: Form 9 and Form 7 filers are never required to file Form 1. Some do (rare) if they do not file a F1 FEC generates a F1Z based on information provided on the F9 or F7.

[jmcarp]

As a possible quick fix, what if we defaulted to showing the Filings tab for electioneering committees, or even hid all other tabs? The Filings tab works just fine for this example: https://fec-dev-web.18f.gov/committee/C30001655?tab=filings.

[PaulClark2]

That works for me and it would provide users with useful information.

[AmyKort]

I agree that showing only the Filings tab for ECs would work. But, if we run into problems with that, I think we should take the EC data off of the tab until we're ready.

[PaulClark2]

@jmcarp communication costs have a similar problem: https://fec-dev-web.18f.gov/committee/C70001516

[jmcarp]

Thanks @PaulClark2. I've submitted a patch that hides all but the "Filings" tab for electioneering and communication cost committees in #655.

I'm thinking we should also either disable the cycle select widget for these committees (since they typically don't have many filings), or change the way we build cycle options, since we're currently using F1 filings, which don't seem to be a good fit for these committee types.

[LindsayYoung]

Sounds good to me!

[noahmanger]

👍

[AmyKort]

Thanks!

[jmcarp]

Fixed in #664. Thanks for the feedback all!