Be careful, BYU fans, about giving to the University of Utah marching band.

You may think you're just being a good sport, showing some state pride or supporting President-elect Barack Obama. But you may still have to answer to your fellow Cougars for what you've done.

That's because the identities of donors to colleges and universities in Utah can be public records, much like your political contributions are public records. But in the case of gifts to universities, you may request, in writing, that your name not be disclosed. At that point, the university is suppose to shield your name from disclosure.

Click here for the state statute. Read paragraph 37.

— NC

Labels: donations, GRAMA

The best all-around free site for information on politicians' money raising, campaign contributors and special-interest ties is opensecrets.org.

The site operated by the Center for Responsive Politics is a great way to do some simple searches on candidates, contributors or lobbyists of interest. You can search by state, by industry and the site provides a money profile of candidates to show the breakdown of where they get their biggest bucks.

CRP is a non-profit, non-partisan group and over the years I've been using their resources I've found them to be reliable and devoid of ulterior motives. A call to the center staff also is a good idea when you get stuff. They're pretty helpful and will do some custom research for you. If it gets too complicated they might charge, but they'll let you know ahead of time.

Try it I think you'll like it.

--dh

Labels: campaign, donations, spotlight site