David Poole cut his teeth at the Roanoke Times, reporting on politics and moonshine at a time when the newspaper was one of the most read in Virginia. But his lasting legacy is founding the Virginia Public Access Project, which aggregates data about campaigns, elected officials and lobbyists — offering it up to the public free of charge.
Poole visited Roanoke's Gainsboro Branch Library to talk about his new book, which details VPAP's origins. It's titled: "Trusted Source: How a Virginia Nonprofit Gained Bipartisan Support in an Era of Political Polarization."
"There was a disconnect between the theory of how campaign finance worked in Virginia and how it actually worked," Poole said. "The theory was that disclosure is important. Disclosure is superior to limits because the money finds a way around limits. In practice, no one knew what the hell was in these reports. So, you had a system that was based on transparency, but you could lie to someone's face. We just took them at their word. You want transparency? We'll give it to you with both barrels. Anybody can go online and see who is giving to who and decide for themselves what it means."
And VPAP became a hit – not just with citizens and journalists who routinely use it to dig up information on state politics – but among candidates and lobbyists, too.
"We made the system more transparent, but we also made the system more efficient," Poole said. "So, if you're a politician trying to raise money, well guess what? You can go to this website and find out who's giving. And if you're a lobbyist placing money, you can do it far more strategically now."
VPAP is still operating and gearing up for Election Night, when it runs real-time results and attracts about a hundred times its normal user base.
