{
  "id": "1999-december-bundling-bucks",
  "slug": "1999-december-bundling-bucks",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-december-bundling-bucks.html",
  "year": 1999,
  "month": "December",
  "monthNum": 12,
  "headline": "Bundling bucks",
  "kicker": "CAMPAIGN FINANCE",
  "author_name": "Dana Wilkie",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "The San Diego Union-Tribune",
  "summary": "A journalist describes investigating McCain's campaign contributions using database analysis to uncover bundling practices, where coordinated donations from employees of the same company circumvent federal campaign finance limits.",
  "keywords": [
    "bundling",
    "contributions",
    "McCain"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Government & Politics",
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Data & Databases"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "Access",
    "World Wide Web"
  ],
  "full_text": "I first got the idea for this story during a computer seminar for the Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship. We were using Microsoft Access, learning how to more efficiently import large databases from the Web and how to manipulate that data.\n\nOur instructor mentioned that the Microsoft program was excellent for unearthing large numbers of checks written to candidates on the same day - a practice known as \"bundling.\" The practice allows companies and industries to get around federal limits on their own gift-giving by having many of their employees give money instead.\n\n\"Many of McCain's contributions came at the urging of CEOs who were close to McCain, who had done business before the senator's Commerce Committee.\"\n\nShortly afterwards, my editor assigned me to look at campaign contributions to presidential candidates and to see if any good stories came of it. It struck me that since Sen. John McCain was setting himself up as a champion for campaign finance reform, it might be interesting to see if he took advantage of any fundraising loopholes himself, such as bundling.\n\nImporting data\n\nWe imported presidential fundraising data from the FEC Web site directly into Microsoft Access. We separated out McCain's contributions, then asked the program to show each donation by date. Since \"bundling\" typically involves coordinated contributions from people working for the same boss or company, we also asked the computer to show the \"occupation\" and \"employer\" of each contributor beside the date of the donation. This allowed us to easily see if there were large numbers of donations that appeared on the same day, or within a few days of one another, and from people working for the same company or industry.\n\nAs the story points out, we found several contributions written on the same day by employees of the same company. We wanted to see if these employees' relatives had given money on the same day, too, so we searched for addresses that matched the addresses of those we knew had given to McCain. We found several matches.\n\nFilling in by phone\n\nWe were able to fill in the details about the contributions through phone interviews - where the checks were collected, who hosted the event, how the host invited his employees, whether there was pressure of any kind to attend, etc. While speaking with campaign-finance-reform-minded groups, we learned that the Center for Responsive Politics had recently done an analysis of \"bundled\" contributions and published a report naming McCain as one of the campaign's top bundlers. We conducted interviews with CRP staff and referred to CRP's report. Clearly, many of McCain's contributions came at the urging of CEOs who were close to McCain, who had done business before the senator's Commerce Committee, and who had given the senator all the money they were allowed to give under federal election law. The large number of checks showered on McCain - at the same time and by people at the same company - sent McCain the unmistakable message that if the senator won the presidency, it behooved him to remember the generous donations of those who helped put him in the White House.\n\nDana Wilkie can be reached by e-mail at dana.wilkie@copleydc.com",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1995-july-how-to-check-campaign-coffers",
      "score": 0.196
    },
    {
      "slug": "1999-julyaugust-campaign-finance-kiddie-donors",
      "score": 0.194
    },
    {
      "slug": "1999-januaryfebruary-charting-campaign-cash",
      "score": 0.182
    },
    {
      "slug": "1995-july-federal-campaign-reports-that-dont-add-up",
      "score": 0.181
    },
    {
      "slug": "1999-september-tipsheets-on-campaign-finance",
      "score": 0.178
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-december-bundling-bucks.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-december-bundling-bucks.json"
}