Spotlight PA has compiled this guide to help you evaluate which candidates you want to send to or keep in the state Legislature. This is part 2. Part 1 was publishes in Tuesday’s edition.

Endorsements

You can also understand a candidate’s values by looking at the organizations that support them. As of April 7, the following notable organizations have endorsed candidates in some races:

• The National Federation of Independent Businesses, an advocacy group representing the interests of small businesses.

• Planned Parenthood PA PAC, a statewide advocate for reproductive and sexual health care providers, including abortion services.

• AFT Pennsylvania, the statewide affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, a labor union that represents education workers mostly in urban school districts.

• The Working Families Party, a left-wing political party active in Philadelphia and other urban areas.

Other groups do not endorse candidates. Instead, the groups recommend or do not recommend a candidate based on their position on a particular issue. That means they may recommend multiple candidates in a single race:

• Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.

Other organizations issue “report cards” that grade lawmakers on their votes. These report cards inherently reflect the issuing organization and its values. Groups in the same advocacy space, such as gun rights, also may issue different grades to the same lawmaker. Some report cards note which votes the organizations considered. Some of the prominent organizations that make these report cards are:

• The ACLU, a civil-rights group that advocates for structural changes to the criminal justice system, free speech, and the right to privacy.

• Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian free-market and limited government advocacy group with ties to the Koch family.

• CeasefirePA, an anti-violence group that advocates for stricter gun laws.

• Gun Owners of America, a growing gun rights group that has criticized the NRA for being “too liberal.”

• The PA Chamber of Business and Industry, a pro-business advocacy group that supports lower taxes and fewer regulations.

Other groups, such as the conservative Pennsylvania Family Institute, skip endorsements or grades and instead publish surveys in which candidates, both incumbents and nonincumbents, are asked questions about their priorities.

The organizations referenced above may also endorse candidates based on internal interviews or questionnaires.

Local parties will likely also make endorsements. Such a nod usually means that the candidate has the support of local elected committee people or each party’s rank-and-file representatives.

Public records

Following the money will take even more work, but it’s just as important. Donations from political committees, other organizations or even individuals can indicate who influences the candidate, and the policies they might support once elected.

All of this information is available to you — in theory.

The Federal Election Commission website and platforms such as OpenSecrets allow you to search for donations to national campaigns. In Pennsylvania, state-level candidates file their campaign finance information with the Department of State, which lists those reports online. The best way to find a candidate’s committee is to search by last name.

Donations are divided by size on the report, and by whether the money came from an individual or a political action committee associated with a corporation, union or other interest group.

Legislators are required to file their first campaign finance report for the cycle by May 8.

You can repeat this same process with any political advertisements you see, which are required by law to say who paid for them. Just plug the sponsor’s name into any of the above databases. If they don’t show up, it may just reveal a loophole in Pennsylvania’s lax and opaque campaign finance laws.

Candidates for state offices also have to file forms with the state Ethics Commission that list any gifts, businesses and other sources of income. Search for those at www.ethicsrulings.pa.gov/WebLink.

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania.