The site can also be accessed through Cuomo’s home page (http:// www.oag.state.ny.us ). The data isn’t new, said Blair Horner, Cuomo’s public integrity official in charge of the site. But the site compiles the public records in a useful format including campaign finance documents, lobbying disclosure reports, the text and supporting arguments for legislative bills, the elected officials who sponsored them and how much cash their campaigns received from the lobbyists pushing the bills.

To duplicate what the Web site allows in a few minutes, a searcher would have to visit several Web sites or examine paper files in local offices. The result has been that few people, outside of news organizations and campaign committees, ever examined the data that show how effective politicians and government can be — and who influences the decisions.

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