New Website Plans to Hold Democrats Accountable

It's called the Majority Accountability Project. It launched on the Internet on April 23rd.

Founded by two Capitol Hill veterans, MAP seeks to be a major on-line clearinghouse of information on the House Majority, conducting its own investigative stories and making them available to the public, on-line community and the mainstream media.

Its goal is to apply the same standard to Democrats' conduct as that party has applied to Republicans. The challenge is whether the "mainstream media" will be as attentive as they were to every allegation against the GOP.

“Last year, dozens of organizations, blogs and internet-based groups were engaged in comprehensive research on the Republican House majority - poring over legislation, travel vouchers, FEC statements, and financial disclosures - disseminating that information and, quite often, driving a great deal of the mainstream media coverage,” said Michael Brady, MAP President and co-founder. “We think this majority needs that same level of scrutiny.”

MAP will compile and maintain comprehensive records on members of the Majority, such as house votes, campaign financing, district activities, policy positions and public statements.

“MAP will begin to fill a huge void in internet strategy and activism,” said Mike Giuliani, MAP co-founder and its Secretary-Treasurer. “While the Democrats boast of a large number of blogs and on-line organizations already in existence, conservatives do not have an on-line news organization to match that impact. This Majority and its candidates made a lot of pledges and promises, and the public has a right to know whether they are being kept.”

MAP hopes that its work will be picked up and repeated by other media.

Its first two stories focus on following the money trail involving Democrats. One story posted on its brand-new website describes how a lobbyist with a questionable past has now become the go-to-guy raising millions for freshman Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Another story describes how Democrat House leaders and Members have donated tens of thousands to pay legal fees for Christine Jennings. She's the Florida Democrat who lost a tight race for a House seat last fall, and then filed an official election challenge asking the House to seat her and un-seat Republican Vern Buchanan. The story questions how Democrats who are paying her legal fees can claim to be impartial when they vote to uphold or deny her election challenge.

Prior to founding MAP, Brady served as Director of Strategic Communications for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), has been a political analyst for TV and was a longtime aide to U.S. Representative Tom Reynolds. Giuliani most recently served as Chief of Staff to former U.S. Representative Sue Kelly and formerly worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.