New NSGIC Board and Officers Elected

Learon Dalby (left), of Arkansas, took over the Presidency of NSGIC during the 2008 Annual NSGIC Conference in Colorado last week.

Under the NSGIC Bylaws (PDF), candidates are elected to President-Elect for one year, then serve a year as President, followed by a year as Past-President. This allows for a continuity of leadership and creates a solid core of experienced executives who work closely together to guide the organization. The change of office takes place at the conclusion of the annual conference each year.

Mr. Dalby was elected President-Elect in 2007 at Madison, Wisconsin. He takes over from Oregon's Cy Smith, who now takes on the role of Past-President. Minnesota's Will Craig (right), was elected President-Elect at the 2008 Annual Conference.

Meanwhile, the NSGIC membership selected four new members of the NSGIC Board of Directors. Three will replace Board members who have stepped down and one will complete the term of Will Craig, who leaves his seat on the Board to serve as President-Elect.

The newest board members are Danielle Ayan, of Georgia: Michael Byrne, of California; Jon Gottsegen, of Colorado; and Dan Widner, of Virginia. They join returning Board members Mike Ouimet, of California; and Mike Mahaffie, of Delaware.

Ivan Wichert, of Kansas, was appointed to another term as NSGIC Treasurer. Mike Van Hook, of Alabama was appointed Secretary. Bill Burgess, of Maryland (ret.), will continue as NSGIC's Washington Liaison.

The NSGIC Board and officers meet monthly by Conference Call, making use of on-line meeting and collaboration technology as appropriate. They hold face-to-face meetings during the NSGIC Mid-Year and Annual Conferences. Approved meeting minutes are published on the NSGIC web site.

(Yet Another) Political Map Mash-Up

Slate.com has added to our growing list of election-related map-presentations with Map the Candidates.

This is a map-based interface with a deep dataset of campaign events. Each candidate has an icon, based (presumably) on their campaign logo. Users can set different time periods for which to map campaign events. Each data point includes additional information on each event.

Interestingly, Slate has added an element of citizen data-creation in partnership with Primary Place Online, which lets voters add their own "write-ups" of events. These are added, where available, to the attribute information on Slate's site. There are also videos from some events and links to related news stories about events. (Via Data Mining)

More Mapped Election Finances

The Federal Elections Commission has announced a map-presentation of campaign finance data for House and Senate races in 2008. This is a companion to the Presidential campaign finance map we noted in June.

A mouse-over on the House and Senate version shows the number of Representative Districts in the state. Clicking on the map brings up a state-view showing all the Districts boundaries. Mousing-over on that map highlights the District and shows the folks running for that seat.


From there, one can drill down to see detailed financial and donor data for each candidate.

As map-presented data goes, this is a fairly simple-looking site. But it leads users to a wealth of data. And that's probably the point.

Candidates Wanted: NSGIC Board of Directors

A call has been put out to the NSGIC membership looking for nominations of candidates for the NSGIC Board of Directors.

Three seats on the six-member Board are up for election at the 2007 NSGIC Annual Conference, September 23 - 27 in Madison, Wisconsin. Board members serve two-year terms. The current Board members whose seats come open this year are Jill Saligoe-Simmel (IN), Will Craig (MN), and Mike Mahaffie (DE).

According to the NSGIC By-Laws (PDF), there are two requirements for board candidates:

To be considered eligible for election, a candidate must be a Member in good standing and agree to serve if elected.

Nominations are also sought for candidates for the post of President-Elect. Current President-Elect Cy Smith (OR) will become president at the end of the Annual Conference when NSGIC President Stu Davis (OH) finishes his term in office.

Nominations must be forwarded to Election Committee Chair Joe Holmes (LA) by Friday, July 27, at 5:00 pm, CDT. The ballot box at the NSGIC Annual Conference will be open through the afternoon break on Tuesday, September 25.

A Geospatial Presentation of Campaign Finance Information

The Federal Elections Commission has established a map-based interface with its campaign contributions data.

The 2008 Presidential Campaign Finance Map "summarizes financial information disclosed by each active 2008 Presidential candidate who has reported at least $10,000 in contributions from individuals other than the candidate," according to the FEC web site.

The site uses a simple "CONUS" view of the nation, with Alaska and Hawaii tucked-in where Mexico would be. Amounts of contributions are represented by circles of different relative sizes. Clicking on a state's circle will "zoom" to a state-level view with circles showing contribution amounts by 3-digit ZIP code levels. Clicking on those circles, if you have a candidate selected, brings you to the individual contribution records.

Users can view data for all candidates, candidates by party affiliation, or for individual candidates. the map-based presentation offers a simple, intuitive way to view one aspect of campaign contributions -- where geographically they come from.

The site currently shows about $157 million in contributions through the end of March. The next update will come in July.

MAPPS PAC Makes News

While this is not necessarily a path that NSGIC is likely to follow, it is interesting to note an article on GeoPlace.Com about the success of the Political Action Committee of The Management Association for Private Photogrammetry Surveyors (MAPPS).

According to the article, MAPPS backed 41 candidates in the most recent election. Of that number, 31 won their races.