Gallagher & Hollenbeck Redefines Political Technology

Gallagher & Hollenbeck, LLC, a national campaign services company with offices in Washington D..C, New York City and northern New Jersey, has blended political research with new technologies and unveiled a new campaign software suite that will revolutionize campaign research and data management.

Campaign research is typically broken down into vulnerability (self research) and opposition research. Gallagher Hollenbeck has designed proprietary software in its Big Book of Answers Software Series to manage research functions with ease. The Big Book of Answers is an all-encompassing program suite that integrates the results of a variety of custom built opposition research software.

The first software innovation is the legislative research system, GILES©, which is capable of compiling complete voting records at municipal, county, state and federal levels. The software works on any legislative body that electronically records its voting process. GILES©, can even be adapted to non-legislative bodies that hold roll call votes such as county boards of commissioners. GILES stands for Gall-Holl Intelligent Legislative Examination Software.

Using the high-speed software, Gallagher Hollenbeck is able to process thousands of votes, compiling a comprehensive report including committee votes, absentee records and extreme minority positions. In short, by outsourcing legislative research to their computers, Gallagher & Hollenbeck is able to produce legislative reports far superior to what their competition can produce.

The software was first used by Gallagher Hollenbeck in 2006 when the company produced research on 23 candidates (13 State Senators and 10 State Representatives) on behalf of the Alabama GOP. The first run produced invaluable opposition research, such as lame-duck legislative sessions filled with favors for the teachers' union, trial lawyers, and various lobbying firms.

Guess that’s why they call him “Skippy”

Our software proved to be the crucial difference in the defeat of Alabama State Rep Frank “Skippy” White.  By using GILES© Gallagher & Hollenbeck was able to produce research demonstrating that “Skippy” missed 56.2% of the votes recorded in the Montgomery Statehouse. As a result, the Alabama GOP was able to defeat a popular incumbent that had been in office for more than two decades.

Several races previously identified as “unwinnable” were salvaged because of research generated by GILES©; Gallagher Hollenbeck used the software successfully in 14 states in 2007, confirming the program’s readiness for national rollout in 2008.

The success of Gallagher & Hollenbeck's legislative software set the stage for the broader scope of their next innovation, the Campaign Finance tracking software, the Oppo-Scanner program©. With the Oppo-Scanner, Gallagher & Hollenbeck was able to compile and examine campaign donor information from the FEC and state election boards, against 90 unique and separate databases. The databases include electronic media such as daily newspapers, courthouse records (both criminal and civil), ethics filings, business filings, sex offender records, governmental vendor lists, as well as complaints and disciplinary actions filed with various state and federal regulatory agencies.

The Oppo-Scanner quickly reveals complex conflict-of-interest stories, deceptive campaign-financing strategies, and possible pay-to-play schemes with alacrity. In trials, the software identified money accepted from a strip club owner, a cocaine smuggler, family members of state contractors and regulated industries.

Gallagher & Hollenbeck stresses that these new software components are part of the comprehensive hardware and software solutions they offer to help automate campaigns. Software is just a tool. Researchers still have to know what they are looking for and be able to process it.