The Methods Playbook · How the Machinery Works

The Methods Playbook

The recurring methods by which money, access, and oversight get bent — each one visible in the public record. Open any method to read the live, sourced examples behind it.

8methods
157sourced examples
100%primary-source linked
What this is, and isn't. This catalogs conduct and patterns, with every example traced to a primary filing or named report. It does not assert that anyone shares a plan or a motive — only what the record shows. Read the examples and judge for yourself.
01

Self-dealing in office

Holding, trading, or steering money toward an interest while holding the public office that funds, regulates, or oversees it.

26documented findingsSee the examples →
02

Self-reinforcing power loops

Money, votes, and favors that circle back to their source — a donor funds an official who advances a contract that funds the donor.

44active loopsSee the examples →
03

Where the money goes dark

Funding traced hop by hop until the trail hits a vanish point — a shell company, an offshore vehicle, an undisclosed beneficial owner, or a filing simply never made.

26active money-flow chainsSee the examples →
04

Broken promises

A commitment captured on the public record, set beside the sourced vote, filing, or action that broke it.

20documented promisesSee the examples →
05

Stated position vs. legal position

Arguing one rule in public while a court filing by the same party argues the opposite — visible only when you read both.

7lawsuit paradoxesSee the examples →
06

Green pledges vs. the footprint

A company's stated environmental or social commitment paired with its own self-disclosed record on the same measure.

5promise / footprint pairsSee the examples →
07

Public message vs. the record

Statements that contradict documented actions, filings, or prior positions — a public claim set beside the primary record that breaks it.

4documented contradictionsSee the examples →
08

The revolving door

Access transferred by employment: the move from a regulator's chair to the industry it regulated, and back again.

25documented movesSee the examples →

Counts are live from the public corpus and link straight to the underlying records. Sourcing standards: /methodology. Auto-generated, inference-tier observations are kept separate from this list.