Editorial principles

Source hierarchy

The controlling source is the official record system for that evidence class: LDA.gov for lobbying filings, Congress.gov for legislation, FEC for campaign-finance records, and USAspending for awards. Bioguide and official House, Senate, and White House pages support identity and current responsibilities. Gov Influence calculations and explanatory prose are secondary and are labeled as project work.

When records disagree

The project checks identifiers, reporting periods, filing versions, update dates, and definitions before comparing records. It preserves material conflicts or uncertainty and points to each source rather than choosing an unsupported reconciliation. A later official amendment can supersede an earlier filing without implying misconduct.

Neutral selection

Coverage is chosen for source availability, record variety, explanatory usefulness, and review capacity. Fame, party balance, popularity, ideology, controversy, and an assumed level of influence are not selection rules. Omissions and empty states describe the bounded collection only.

Facts, calculations, and interpretation

A documented fact repeats what a cited record says. A site calculation applies a disclosed method to named inputs. A contextual association explains why records are displayed together and states what the link cannot prove. Interpretation never upgrades timing, shared subjects, committee proximity, sponsorship, or recipient identity into motive, causation, coordination, wrongdoing, or policy effect.

Independence and conflicts

Funding, technical work, partnerships, source access, or feedback cannot purchase coverage, favorable language, removal of accurate facts, or exceptions to evidence rules. Anyone responsible for selection or review should disclose a material conflict and step away from that decision when independent review is not possible. AI Sure Tech's website credit does not grant editorial control or establish it as the legal operator.

Review responsibility and correction severity

Gov Influence remains responsible for every published page, including drafted or AI-assisted language. Identity, privacy, safety, and materially misleading source errors receive the highest correction priority; substantive errors follow; typographic changes that do not alter meaning are minor. Material changes retain a visible trail through existing pages.

• Corrections process
• Project scope and responsibility