HALLOWELL — The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting has launched a new online tool to help citizens research public officials and issues.
Be Your Own Watchdog is a free website that aggregates information from a variety of sources on elections, campaign finance, lobbying, legislation, government ethics, and more.
The center, a nonprofit news service, developed Be Your Own Watchdog to give the public easy access to the same information reporters have.
“There’s an old saying in newspapers that explains this new project,” center Publisher John Christie said in a press release. “Veteran reporters would ask new reporters what they would do if their mother says ‘I love you.’ The answer is : ‘Check it out.'”
Christie said Be Your Own Watchdog will help voters, for example, check out the sources of candidates’ campaign contributions and income, to investigate whether the candidates may be influenced by lobbyists.
Be Your Own Watchdog was developed with the help of an advisory committee and partially funded by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.