About: “Worth a closer look” flags
Rules last updated Nov. 12, 2026
A “Worth a closer look” flag means public records show an official with a personal stake in an organization and, separately, either power over it or a second stake in it. Each flag rests on at least two independent official records, uses the same rule for every member, and says what it found in one plain sentence.
Principles
Every flag must meet all six. A finding that fails one is shown as context, without the badge, or not at all.
- Two independent records. A flag joins at least two official records from different sources, such as an FEC filing and a stock trade report. One record on its own is information, not a finding.
- Same organization beats same industry. A match on the exact organization (one shared organization ID) is strong. A match on an industry is weaker and earns the badge only in the cases the rules name.
- A stake has to be real money. Campaign money, personal investments, paid travel or income. Small, routine or duplicated amounts don't count (see the thresholds in each rule).
- One rule for everyone. Rules run the same way for every member and party. No hand-picked flags, and no hand-removed ones.
- Say what was found, not what it means. Each flag has one plain reason sentence with dates and amounts, and links to every record behind it. It never says or implies that money changed a vote.
- Context travels with the flag. Where it applies, the flag shows timing (how close the records are in time) and how common the pattern is among peers.
The building blocks
Every record the site holds is either a stake (something the official gets from an organization) or a power (something the official can do that affects it). A flag fires when a stake meets a power, or a second stake, on the same organization.
Stakes: what the official gets
| Stake | Records | Counts when |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign money | FEC PAC contributions; lobbyists' campaign contributions (LD-203, duplicates of FEC removed); employees giving together | $10,000 or more from the organization this election |
| Outside spending | Super PAC spending for the official, traced to the organization as a funder | The organization gave the super PAC $25,000 or more |
| Personal investment | Stock trades and annual-disclosure holdings of the official, spouse or dependent child | Any trade or holding ($1,001 is the smallest reported range) |
| Gifts and travel | Privately paid travel; LD-203 event and honor payments | Any amount |
| Personal income or ties | Outside positions, income, spouse's employer, debts owed to a company (annual disclosure) | Any reported tie |
| People | Former senior staff now registered to lobby for the organization | Within 2 years of leaving the office |
Powers: what the official can do
| Power | Records | Counts when |
|---|---|---|
| Vote | Roll-call votes on a bill the organization lobbied | Targeted bill (not a funding or sweeping bill) |
| Committee seat | The official's committees and the industries they oversee | The organization's industry is in the committee's jurisdiction; chair or ranking member counts more |
| Authorship | Sponsor or cosponsor of a bill the organization lobbied | Any targeted bill |
| Earmark | Earmark requested for the organization or its affiliate | Any amount |
Matching uses one organization ID that links FEC, lobbying, employer, stock ticker and earmark-recipient names. A stock ticker maps to its company (SPCX → Space Exploration Technologies).
The rules
Twelve rules, grouped by the stake involved. “Badge” means the finding earns Worth a closer look. “Context” means it is shown where it applies, without the badge. Bracketed text in the sentences is filled from the records.
| # | Rule | What has to be true | Reason sentence | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stock in a funder | The official, spouse or child traded or holds stock in a company that gave the campaign money this election. | “[Name] bought [range] of [Company] stock on [date]. [Company]'s PAC gave [his/her] campaign [amount] this election.” | Badge |
| 2 | Stock in a company lobbying their vote | A trade in a company within 90 days before or after the official voted on a targeted bill that company lobbied, or a holding at the time of the vote. | “[Name] sold [range] of [Company] stock on [date], [N] days before voting [Yes/No] on [Bill], which [Company] lobbied on.” | Badge |
| 3 | Stock in an industry they oversee | A trade in a company whose industry is in the jurisdiction of a committee the official sits on. Holdings alone are context unless the official chairs or is ranking member. | “[Name] bought [range] of [Company] stock on [date]. [He/She] sits on the [Committee] Committee, which oversees [industry].” | Badge for trades; context for holdings |
| 4 | Funder lobbied a close vote | A funder lobbied a targeted bill, and the vote was close (winner under 65%). | “[N] groups that lobbied on [Bill] gave [Name] money. The vote was [result].” | Badge |
| 5 | Funder lobbied a bill they wrote | The official sponsored or cosponsored a targeted bill that a funder lobbied. | “[Name] cosponsored [Bill]. [Org], which lobbied on it, gave [his/her] campaign [amount].” | Badge |
| 6 | Earmark to a funder | The official requested an earmark for an organization (or its affiliate) that gave the campaign money. | “[Name] requested [amount] for [Org]. [Org]'s PAC and employees gave [his/her] campaign [amount].” | Badge |
| 7 | Industry money above committee peers | The official gets a larger share of money from an industry than 75% of the members of the committee that oversees it. | “[Industry] gave [Name] [x] percent of [his/her] money, more than [N] of [M] [Committee] members.” | Badge for chair or ranking member; context for others |
| 8 | Paid travel from an interested group | A trip was paid for by an organization that lobbied a bill the official voted on, or whose industry the official's committee oversees. | “[Org] paid [amount] for [Name]'s trip to [place] on [date]. [Org] lobbied on [Bill].” | Badge |
| 9 | Super PAC funded by an interested group | An organization gave $25,000 or more to a super PAC that spent for the official, and lobbied a targeted bill the official voted on. | “[Org] gave [amount] to [Super PAC], which spent [amount] supporting [Name]. [Org] lobbied on [Bill].” | Badge |
| 10 | Former staff lobbying the office | A former senior staffer registered to lobby for an organization within 2 years of leaving, and that organization lobbied a bill the official voted on. | “[Staffer], [Name]'s [role] until [date], now lobbies for [Org], which lobbied on [Bill].” | Badge |
| 11 | Personal income or debt from an industry they oversee | Outside income, a position, a spouse's job or a debt tied to a company in a committee's jurisdiction. | “[Name] owes [range] to [Bank]. [He/She] sits on the [Committee] Committee.” | Context, unless the same company also triggers rule 1, 2 or 4 |
| 12 | Late stock report | A trade was reported more than 45 days after it happened, the STOCK Act deadline. | “[Name] reported a [Company] stock trade [N] days after it happened. The legal deadline is 45 days.” | Shown as “Reported late”; adds to any other flag on the same trade |
Timing. When the two records are within 30 days of each other, the reason sentence says so (“12 days before the vote”), and the flag sorts first.
What never earns the badge on its own
- A single record. A PAC gift, a stock trade, a committee seat or a lobbying report alone is information.
- Sweeping and funding bills. Links that run only through government funding bills or bills lobbied by more groups than 95% of bills (like H.R. 1 in 2025) are context.
- Industry matches without a stake. An industry lobbying a bill and giving to many members is normal. It needs rule 3 (a trade) or rule 7 (above committee peers).
- Diversified funds. Mutual funds, index funds, ETFs and blind trusts don't count as stock in a company.
- Party, leadership PAC and other candidates' money. It's political money, not an organization's interest.
- Public bodies. Cities, counties, public universities and government agencies as earmark recipients or employers.
- Lobbying firms as the interested party. The client is the interested party. A firm is matched through its clients.
- Event and honor payments as campaign money. They are a gift stake, never campaign money.
- Duplicates. A lobbyist-reported gift that repeats an FEC contribution counts once.
Worked examples
All four use records already on the site.
William Timmons and SpaceX: badge (rule 1). Timmons bought $50,001–$100,000 of SpaceX stock on June 15, 2026. SpaceX's PAC gave his campaign $10,000 this election. Under these rules it earns the badge and appears on his Overview, on the trade row, on SpaceX's organization page and on the PAC row in Fundraising. Rule 3 doesn't apply, because neither of his committees (Financial Services, Oversight) oversees aerospace. Rule 2 would add to it if SpaceX lobbied a targeted bill he voted on within 90 days of the trade. The trade is listed as asset type “OT” rather than a public stock, so the rules cover private shares too.
Tim Scott and the Ratepayer Protection Act: badge (rule 4). Duke Energy, Dow and the National Electrical Contractors Association lobbied on the bill, and each one's lobbyists gave Scott $15,000. The Senate vote to start debate failed 57–43, a close vote. The bill is targeted, not sweeping.
Tim Scott and AstraZeneca: no badge. AstraZeneca's lobbyists gave Scott $33,500, the largest amount on his Connections tab. But the only bill linking them is H.R. 1, a sweeping bill. It's shown as context under “Bills nearly every large group lobbies.”
Tim Scott and the finance industry: pending rule 7. He chairs the Banking Committee, and finance is his largest industry source. Whether that earns the badge depends on how his share compares with other Banking Committee members, which needs the peer data.
How it works across the site
The rules run in one place and write to one findings table. Every page reads from it, so a flag and its count are the same everywhere.
- Match. Every record is tied to one organization ID (FEC committee, lobbying client, employer, stock ticker, earmark recipient, trip sponsor).
- Run the rules. Rules 1–12 run nightly over every member, after each new filing is loaded.
- Write findings. One row per finding: rule number, member, organization, bill if any, result (badge, context or reported late), the reason sentence, the date of each record, the days between them, and a link to every source record.
- Log changes. When a corrected record removes or changes a finding, the change is logged with the date. A flag never silently disappears.
Where findings appear
| Page | What shows |
|---|---|
| Member Overview | “[N] findings worth a closer look”, with the top three reason sentences |
| Member Votes tab and bill overlay | The badge and reason on each bill with a vote-based finding (rules 2, 4, 5, 9, 10) |
| Member Connections tab | The badge on bill cards and organization rows |
| Member Personal finances | The badge on stock trades, trips and disclosure items (rules 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 12) |
| Member Fundraising | A small marker on PAC and employer rows that are part of a finding, and the industry comparison (rule 7) |
| Bill page | Findings for each South Carolina member who voted on the bill |
| Organization page | Every finding that involves the organization, across members |