The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Liberal Magazine’s Web Site Opens Up PAC Info

House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been an ardent booster of new technology, particularly the Internet, seeing it as another means to spread the conservative message. But liberal Mother Jones magazine is turning the tables on him.

The magazine has launched a revised version of its World Wide Web site, MoJo Wire, with a new feature called Coin-Operated Congress, listing political action committee contributors to nearly 4,000 candidates for federal offices during the 1992 and ’94 elections. Highlighted is Gingrich and GOPAC, the political action committee that the House speaker chairs and whose contributors have, thus far, been a secret.

But Mother Jones got its hands on a list of major GOPAC donors between 1985 and ’93 and has published it in its entirety. Among them are Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. Chairman Dwayne O. Andreas, who gave GOPAC $70,000, and Amway President Richard DeVos, according to the magazine.

The advantage of electronic over print media is that computer users can comb the databases for specific information. For example, the Coin Operated Congress allows computer users to call up contributions to Sen. Phil Gramm’s last campaign and break them down by industry. Eventually, Net surfers will be able to trace the contributions to individuals.

Also, databases the size of ones on the MoJo Wire would take up entirely too many pages in a magazine, pages that must be supported by advertising--or, in the case of not-for-profit Mother Jones, by donations.

“There are no space restrictions here except for our ability to produce material,” said Peter Seibel, a Mother Jones fellow and co-manager of the project. And once on the Web site, the information can remain, forming an electronic library.

Also on the site are a list of Web sites that Mother Jones readers might find of interest, including addresses for watchdog groups and organizations with activities that bear watching, such as the National Rifle Assn. and the Christian Coalition.

Mother Jones Editor Jeffrey Klein said a key feature of the site will be the readers’ forum. “I’m expecting to get some populist information and outrage that will spawn the next wave of media coverage,” Klein said.

Klein said Gingrich will not be the only target of the magazine. “We have two more exposes planned that are not about Newt,” he said. “The next one is definitely bipartisan. It’s about Congress people trading in stocks and the following one is about a Democrat.”

Klein said he would welcome a rebuttal from the House Speaker. Gingrich was given the site’s address (https://www.mojones.com), but so far, no response.