Website data: general firm characteristics

The data culled from organizational websites were necessary in order to be able to check for biases in survey non-response, as well as to address similar concerns associated with a firm’s failure to disclose its clients. The website data include five measures about each firm: political partisanship, predominant client type, staff size, founding consultant’s occupation prior to establishing this firm, and founder’s gender.

Partisanship

The partisanship measure was constructed on the basis of (1) if there were any party or campaign clients on firms’ client lists, and if so whether they were exclusively Democratic or Republican (if both, the firm was coded bipartisan), (2) if there were no party or campaign clients, whether the biographical statements of the firm’s principals suggest backgrounds of working as a campaigner, legislative staff, or consultant for only one party, (3) if there are any statements on the website claiming that the firm favors clients or causes that are affiliated with the Democrats or the Republicans. Failing these three tests, firms were considered either non- or bipartisan.