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How to Search for Documents ****Search for Candidate Reports
If you’d like to look at documents filed by a candidate, in the Filer Name box, you would type in the last name of the candidate, one space, and the first initial of the first name. If you don’t know the first name, just enter the last name. Don’t enter any commas, periods or quotation marks. The only acceptable punctuation is an apostrophe, as in the case of O’Malley. If you’d like to narrow the search to a particular election year, you would put, for example, 1999 in the Election Year box. You don’t need to narrow your search any further, just click on the Send Query button located at the bottom of the Search screen.
What should appear at this point is a grid of the reports filed by that candidate. The list is in chronological order and the relevant fields are:
Endorsement Number (click once on the Endorsement Number of the report you wish to
view);
Filer Name (Name of candidate);
Office Sought (Office the candidate is running for);
PDC Form (C3--Detailed contributions; C4--Summary of Contributions & Expenditures, click here for a list of each form and what it
is used for);
Description/Party (Party of the candidate);
Date Received (Date report was received by PDC);
Pages (Number of pages for a given report).
Choose the report you would like to view and click on the Endorsement Number. The report should appear and you should be able to view it and/or print it.
Search for Political Committee Reports
If you’d like to look at documents filed by a political committee, party committee, local ballot committee, etc. you would type in the name of the committee in the Filer Name box. If you don’t know the committee's full name but only part of it, you can type only part of it (but it must be the first part), i.e. COMM FOR BETTER or see below for a list of committees. Enter the name the way it appears on the list. Don’t enter any commas, periods or quotation marks. If you’d like to narrow the search to a particular election year (for statewide initiatives), you would put, for example, 1999 in the Election Year box. You don’t need to narrow your search any further, just click on the Send Query button located at the bottom of the Search screen.
Note: The word committee is always abbreviated to COMM and the word citizens is always abbreviated to CIT.
Lists of Committees:
Political Party
Committees
Legislative Caucus
Committees
Other Committees
What should appear at this point is a grid of the reports filed by that political committee. The list is in chronological order and the relevant fields are:
Endorsement Number (click once on the Endorsement Number of the report you wish to
view);
Filer Name (Name of political committee);
Ballot Number (Ballot number if Statewide Initiative Committee, i.e. 695, 696, etc.)
PDC Form (C3--Detailed contributions; C4--Summary of Contributions & Expenditures,
Choose the report you would like to view and click on the Endorsement Number. The report should appear and you should be able to view it and/or print it.
Search for Lobbyist Reports
If you’d like to look at documents filed by a lobbyist, in the Filer Name box, you would type in the last name of the lobbyist, one space, and the first initial of the first name. If you don’t know the first name, just enter the last name or click here for a list of
registered lobbyists. Enter the name the way it appears on the list. Don’t enter any commas, periods or quotation marks. The only acceptable punctuation is an apostrophe, as in the case of O’Malley. If you’d like to narrow the search to a particular type of report, you would put, for example, "L1" in the PDC Form box. You don’t need to narrow your search any further, just click on the Send Query button.What should appear at this point is a grid of the reports filed by that lobbyist. The list is in chronological order and the relevant fields are:
Endorsement Number (click once on the Endorsement Number of the report you wish to
view);
Filer Name (Name of lobbyist);
PDC Form (L1--Lobbyist Registration; L2--Expenditure Report,
Choose the report you would like to view and click on the Endorsement Number. The report
should appear and you should be able to view it and/or print it. (Lobbyists file reports
beginning with the letter L.)
Search for Lobbyist Employer Reports
If you’d like to look at documents filed by a lobbyist employer, in the Filer Name box, you would type in the name of the lobbyist employer. If you don’t know the exact name, just enter part of it or click here for a list of
lobbyist employers. Enter the name the way it appears on the list. Don’t enter any commas, periods or quotation marks. The only acceptable punctuation is an apostrophe, as in the case of O’Malley. If you’d like to narrow the search to a particular type of report, you would put, for example, "L3" or "L3c" in the PDC Form box. You don’t need to narrow your search any further, just click on the Send Query button located at the bottom of the Search screen.What should appear at this point is a grid of the reports filed by that lobbyist employer. The list is in chronological order and the relevant fields are:
Endorsement Number (click once on the Endorsement Number of the report you wish to
view);
Filer Name (Name of lobbyist employer);
PDC Form (L3--Lobbyist Employer's Report; L3c--Contribution Report,
Choose the report you would like to view and click on the Endorsement Number. The report
should appear and you should be able to view it and/or print it.
Other Reporting Entities
Public Agency Lobbying (L5)--Enter the name of the local or state agency in the Filer Name box.
Grass Roots Lobbying Campaigns (L6)--Enter the name of the Initiative to the Legislature committee or other filer in the Filer Name box.
Reports of Employer of Legislators, State Officers or State Employees (L7)--Enter the name of the employer in the Filer Name box.
Out-of-State or Federal Committee Contributions (C5)--Enter the name of the Out-of-State or Federal committee in the Filer Name box.
Independent Expenditures (C6)--Enter the name of the spender in the Filer Name box.
Special Political Expenditures (C7)--Enter the name of the spender in the Filer Name box.