Dirt Diggers Network: Digest No. 19
September 26, 2002
Editor: Philip Mattera
1. Query about software for mapping home visits
2. The 50 Richest Members of Congress
3. SEC Proposes Disclosure of Proxy Voting by Mutual Funds
4. Anyone familiar with SkyMinder?
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1. Query about software for mapping home visits
Ed Ramthun writes:
I am interested in hearing other folks' opinions of the various software
products that can be used for mapping home visits. My experience so
far has been with Streets & Trips, which works well for smaller campaigns.
For larger campaigns, the time involved in creating useful maps with
Streets & Trips can be extensive. Do any of the other programs
(e.g., Mappoint, Maptitude, etc.) include features that can speed up
the process of generating maps?
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2. The 50 Richest Members of Congress
Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, recently published
the latest edition of its list of the 50 richest members of Congress.
(See <http://www.rollcall.com/pages/gtc/guid0909j.html>.)
To make the cut this year, a legislator had to have a net worth
of at least $3.1 million. The winners were heirs or spouses of
heirs to major fortunes. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was ranked
first, thanks to the $675 million in assets he holds along with
his wife, ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz. Rep. Amo Houghton
(R-NY), a descendant of the founders of Corning Inc., came
in second with an estimated $475 million in assets.
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3. SEC Proposes Disclosure of Proxy Voting by Mutual Funds
In case you missed it in the newspapers: the SEC recently
proposed to require mutual funds and other registered investment
management companies to disclose their proxy voting procedures and
actual votes. As the SEC press release <http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2002-139.htm>
put it, "The proposal is designed to enable fund shareholders to monitor their
funds' involvement in the governance activities of portfolio companies."
A decision on the reform--which was aggressively promoted by the
AFL-CIO--will take place after a 60-day comment period.
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4. Anyone familiar with SkyMinder?
Your moderator just came across a service called SkyMinder
<www.skyminder.com> that calls itself "the best online source for
credit and business information on 36 million public and private
companies worldwide." It apparently aggregates information from
a variety of sources (including Graydon, the European equivalent of
D&B) and provides dossiers in a standard format. You can either
subscribe or pay per search. Has anyone tried out this service,
particular with regard to non-U.S. companies?
Philip Mattera
pmattera@goodjobsfirst.org