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USF public-affairs students urge Ethics Commission to add ID numbers, smarter search and hyperlinks to lobbyist site
Summary
A University of San Francisco Master of Public Affairs team proposed assigning internal identification numbers to lobbyists and firms, adding predictive text and sorting, and linking data fields so the public can find all reports for a single entity, regardless of spelling variations. Commissioners welcomed the recommendations and asked staff to explore implementation.
Sebastian Khan, a graduate student in the University of San Francisco Master of Public Affairs program, presented a multi-student analysis of the Ethics Commission website on Feb. 29 and urged the commission to adopt three immediate fixes to improve searchability and standardization.
The students proposed assigning a designated identification number (DIN) to every lobbyist, firm and reporting entity so all reports would be tied to one canonical identifier regardless of how a name is spelled. "By implementing a DIN system, it would eliminate the need for the mapping reported name section that currently catches errors on the website," Bridget Mahoney said during the presentation, arguing the DIN would “eliminate errors and save time when searching through the website data.”
The team’s other two near-term recommendations were to add predictive text and sorting/filter options to the site’s search boxes and to hyperlink all quantifiable or categorical items on an entity’s profile (reported contacts, payments promised, activity expenses and political contributions) so users can click through from a summary item to the related reports. Trevor Martin demonstrated how inconsistent category labels and partial spellings currently fragment results and slow research.
Why it matters: commissioners and members of the public said the changes would help ordinary residents — not only professional researchers — find who is influencing city decisions. Chair Rennie commended the students and said staff will have to determine feasibility; Executive Director Pelham noted the presentation timed well with planned website modernization.
Students also offered policy-proposal ideas that would require legislative changes if adopted: voluntary quarterly disclosure of lobbyist donations to nonprofits exceeding $500; adding employment history to lobbyist profiles to track revolving-door relationships; and making voting records available on public officials’ profiles so the public can see whether votes track with lobbyist activity. Jasmine Conrad summarized those recommendations as a second tier of work that "do require additional data and maintenance but aim to increase transparency."
Public reaction was generally supportive: Friends of Ethics and former commission members praised the presentation and suggested staff convene technical advisors to address the more difficult normalization questions. Several commenters cautioned that any backend DIN and normalization effort is a nontrivial computer-science problem and urged the commission to map implementation costs and contractor dependencies before committing to a timeline.
Where it goes next: commissioners asked staff to report back on implementation feasibility and timelines and invited the students to provide follow-up input; staff and commissioners discussed possible pro bono assistance from the students’ program.
