By Connie Lewis

Ad Club Honors Gerry Wilson for Outstanding Achievements in Career

There’s a saying in the news business that if it’s new, its news.

Taken literally, that would mean the fact that President Bush is the leader in campaign contributions is not news.

But a breakdown of that contribution data, available on a new cybersnoop Web site — www.fundrace.org, which blows the whistle on president campaign donations neighborhood by neighborhood throughout the country, is news. It’s especially a breaking story to those interested in knowing who among their friends and neighbors donated money to a particular candidate, and how much. It’s just repackaged news.

It was certainly news to David Casey, a partner in the Downtown law firm of Casey, Gerry, Reed & Schenk, to learn that his name and the amount of his campaign contribution could be found by logging onto the site and typing his zip code into its “neighbor search” feature.

Casey wasn’t upset. And he said he was “intrigued” to learn the names and campaign contributions of others who reside in his community.

“In our democracy we need to have full disclosure in campaign contributions,” Casey said. “It’s part of the democratic process.”

The site also has maps of states and cities indicating contribution levels and provides information on how much each candidate has spent on airline tickets and hotel accommodations while campaigning.

According to Michael Frumin, a research fellow with nonprofit Eyebeam, the first version of the site was launched in November. Information, collected from Federal Election Commission records, relates to contributions of $200 or more made between Jan. 1, 2003, and Feb. 29, 2004.

It wasn’t until mid-March, however, when the “neighbor search” feature was added that public reaction began to mount. And not everyone was as amenable to the idea as Casey.

“Some people complained for their own sake, some for other’s sake, or just on principle, while others think it’s great because of the transparency of democracy and fund-raising,” said Frumin, who developed the site with Jonah Peretti, Eyebeam’s director of research and development.

“We list whatever people filled out on their form when they contributed, and that’s what gets published on the FEC’s Web site,” Frumin said. “We just repackaged it.”