I study political science and data science at Iowa State University, and before that at Simpson College. Delotrope researches bills in the Iowa Legislature for clients on any side of them.
I have spent years in political and data communities, and I take part in Iowa and federal politics in whatever way I can. I have worked on several academic research projects. I served as student body vice president at Simpson College, then transferred to Iowa State after program cuts at Simpson. In high school I completed four years of college coursework through dual enrollment.
Political science tells me what to look for in a lobbyist declaration or a campaign finance report, and why it matters. Data science makes the matching possible. The same organization can be spelled several ways across different agencies, and finding that by eye doesn’t work past a page or two.
I have also done freelance graphic design for years, which is why the reports are laid out the way they are. I built the report template and designed the logo myself.
The first project was a school research paper on Iowa’s prediction market bill, a question in state politics. Working out by hand who was behind that bill showed me there was a better way to do it, and that other people needed the answer too.
Delotrope is a coined word. Delos is the Greek word for clear or visible, and a trope is a turn. A heliotrope is a plant that turns toward the sun. Delotrope turns toward what the records make visible.
Iowa makes lobbyists declare For, Against or Undecided on each bill. A declaration names the group and its side, and stops there. The rest of the story is in other public filings, and that is where I start.
Every claim in a report traces back to a filing you could pull yourself, and every line is checked against it before the report goes out. If something doesn’t check out, it comes out, or the report says it couldn’t be confirmed.
The same standard applies to a client and to a client’s opponent. Every organization gets checked the same way.