Every bill has a room. Know who’s already in it.
Which members actually decide your fight, who the disclosed money and relationships already favor, and what it takes to move the votes that matter.
A strategist’s read, built entirely from California’s public filings and reviewed by hand before it reaches you. Name the fight and we will tell you what the record shows.
Everything a read is built on is already public. It sits in five disclosure systems that do not talk to each other, under different spellings, which is why it is almost never seen together. Joining it is the work.
What a read tells you, before the money goes out.
Three questions clients ask first. The answers below show the shape of a read, not any real board.
This is an illustration, not a record. The patterns above describe how a read is put together. They are not statements about any real official. Your read is built from the actual filings for your fight, every line is sourced, and it is written for review rather than accusation.
A read you can act on, in days rather than weeks.
Tell us the fight
The bill, the board or the committee you are working, and what a loss would cost. One sentence is enough to start.
We read the board
We pull the public filings — campaign finance, Form 700 interests, lobbying registrations, behested payments — and map who already has the ear of the members who decide it.
A brief you can use
The members who matter, where each one sits, and what it takes to move them. Short, sourced line by line, and built for strategy.
Every read is built from California’s own disclosures: Form 700 statements of economic interest, CAL-ACCESS campaign finance, lobbying registrations and reports, Form 803 behested payments and Form 461 major-donor filings.
We do not allege anything. We organize what is already disclosed into something you can act on, and we say where each line came from so you can check it.
Non-partisan by design. Channels are reported separately and never summed, because the same dollars are disclosed by more than one filer. Independent expenditures are, by law, made independently of the candidate they support or oppose. Findings are framed for review, never as accusations.
Tell us the fight. We will read the board.
One sentence about what you are working and what a loss would cost is enough to start.
What you get back
A short, sourced brief, read and written by Russell rather than generated by a tool. Usually within a few days.
No cost to look
The first read is how a conversation starts. If we are not the right fit for the fight, we will tell you that instead.
Working through a firm
If you hold the account and the fight has turned, the arrangement protects you. The client stays yours and you present the work. How that works →