What is Quiver Quantitative?

Quiver tracks congressional trading of stocks, government contracts, and corporate lobbying.

Rating: B+

While Quiver Quantitative is a for-profit corporation and doesn’t link to the transaction filings themselves, they publicly disclose their methodology and have tracking identification for each of their claims so users can validate each transaction by doing independent research.

Methodology - A

Quiver Quantitative provides enough information needed to double-check their work so that most users can verify their claims, however they don’t have a way for users or researchers to submit inaccurate or misleading information through their site. They also provide their methodology and have detailed definitions of their findings.

What they disclose:

· The filing ID of each transaction

· Dollar amount

· Which stock was traded

· Dates of trade and disclosure

What they don’t disclose:

· Strategies to mitigate correction of errors/incorrect information.

Evidence Presented – B

While Quiver Quantitative provides tracking ID numbers and detailed information of their findings, they don’t link to the primary sources themselves. They do, however, provide a way to compile and export the data for researchers to use.

What they disclose:

· Where the data is found

· The tracking ID number and transaction details

What they don’t disclose:

· Links to the filings themselves

Neutrality – B

Quiver Quantitative is a for-profit corporation. While they have incentive to be a neutral party, that incentive is through market capital and profit, which are both subject to market manipulation. The company is funded by Allos Ventures and Idea Fund, both of which are venture capital firms seeking to profit from their investments. As a result, Quiver Quantitative must prioritize its shareholders and company value.

Recommended Alternative – CapitalTrades (B+)

CapitalTrades is also a for-profit organization, however they link directly to the filings on House.gov. Their methodology, however, is not as clearly disclosed. As a result, I would recommend using Capital Trades and Quiver Quantitative in tandem while doing your own research.

Rating: A

Opensecrets.org is a Nonprofit organization, which tracks all political donations across all candidates and political action committees. Their website links directly to all receipts, shares all of the methodology they used to compile the date, allows you to explore the data with exact metrics, and distinguishes between donations from organizations and individuals.

Methodology: A

While Opensecrets doesn’t fully list the steps taken for each investigation, they do list the methodology on each results page. They also link to the receipts, distinguish between individual and organization spending, allow users to download all compilations of data from their website, and have a fully established correction process when users or researchers find errors when fact checking their information.

What they disclose:

· The receipts of the funds from the FEC database

· Evidence detailing how the funds are tied to the organizations, industries, and political candidates

· The percentage of the funds that are directly tied to the PACs vs individuals who are associated with these organizations and their families

· How the data is compiled, sorted, and evaluated

· The standards used to determine accuracy for each investigation

What they don’t disclose:

· The individual steps taken for each investigation

Evidence Presented: A

While OpenSecrets links to all of the receipts and provides resources for users to look the data up for themselves, they don’t have links to the FEC receipts for all results pages. As a result, if a user is looking for a specific source of funding, it might take some searching to find the individual receipts.

What they disclose:

· Links to all data used for their compilations

· Downloadable compilations of data

Neutrality: A

Opensecrets is a nonprofit organization, who relies on individual donations. They are not affiliated with any political figure, PAC, campaign, or other organization. They also link their own funding so users can evaluate their integrity for themselves. They compile funding data for all political candidates and parties. They also have a process for users and researchers to fact-check their findings and correct any errors. As a result, any misleading information found on their website is likely to be resolved by an open investigation from users and researchers of all political and ideological belief structures.

Evidence Benchmark

Evidence Benchmark is a new publication in which I review and fact-check websites, organizations, and quotes from political figures. I show their methodology, examine their sources, and give them an integrity rating based on their performance.

Rating: F

TrackAIPAC does not adequately list their methodology, how they insure accuracy, or share the receipts they use directly. They are also operated by a PAC themselves, thus they have an inherent political bias toward the beliefs of the political committee they represent.

An alternative to TrackAIPAC is Opensecrets.org, a nonprofit organization who links directly to all receipts, shares all of the methodology they used to compile the data, allows you to explore the data with exact metrics, and distinguishes between donations from organizations and individuals.

Methodology - F

While TrackAIPAC.com has a methodology section on the website, it lacks any appropriate detail regarding the factors they use in compiling data, the steps they take to insure accuracy, which data they compile, how they screen for misleading or incorrect data.

What they disclose:

· The 50 PACs they track

· The fact that their data is pulled from the FEC database

What they don’t disclose:

· The receipts of the funds from the FEC database

· Evidence about how/why the 50 PACs they track are allied with AIPAC

· The percentage of the funds that are directly tied to the PACs vs individuals who are associated with these organizations and their families

· How the data is compiled, sorted, and evaluated

· Who is responsible for each investigation

· The standards used to determine accuracy for each investigation

Evidence Presented – F

While TrackAIPAC lists that their data comes from the FEC, they don’t disclose links, screenshots, or any other evidence indicating that those receipts are used for their investigation. As a result, there is no way to cross-reference their findings and evaluate their claims.

What they disclose:

· The data they compile is pulled from the Federal Election Commission database

What they don’t disclose:

· Links to the data used

· Downloadable compilations of their data

· Screenshots of the data from the FEC website

· Where on the website they found the data

Neutrality – F

TrackAIPAC is paid for and owned by Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption, which is a Political Action Committee itself. Political Action Committees inherently have political motivations, as their funding, operation, leadership, are all tied to political candidates, political narratives and the outcomes of elections that their donors ask for. As a result, a Political Action Committee has no motivation to be unbiased when referring to a political opponent.

Recommended Alternative – OpenSecrets

Opensecrets.org is a Nonprofit organization, which tracks all political donations across all candidates and political action committees. Their website links directly to all receipts, shares all of the methodology they used to compile the date, allows you to explore the data with exact metrics, and distinguishes between donations from organizations and individuals.