Larry Makinson, Senior Fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, is one of the nation's leading experts on the patterns of money in American politics. He began that work as a journalist in Alaska in the mid-1980s and was one of the pioneers of computer-assisted reporting on money in politics. That work eventually took him to Washington, DC where he spent 15 years at the Center for Responsive Politics, including two years as its executive director. While at CRP, he originated the category system for classifying campaign contributions by industry and sector, he authored nearly a dozen books and countless reports on the patterns of funding in federal campaigns, and he helped design the award-winning OpenSecrets Web site. After leaving CRP he spent a year as senior fellow at the Center for Public Integrity, investigating the patterns in Pentagon contracting. Makinson currently telecommutes to Washington from his home on the Oregon coast.