How the ratio is computed

The detector counts (a) the number of distinct NELIS testimony slots a client occupies (across all bills, all hearings) and (b) the client’s total cf_contributions through the data window. A client with N testimony slots and M dollars contributed has a ratio M/N (money per access slot) — outliers in either tail are flagged.

Threshold logic: a client is "high access / low money" if its ratio is below the 5th percentile of clients with at least one testimony slot. A client is "high money / low access" if it contributed at least $5,000 but has zero testimony slots.

What this is NOT

This detector does not adjudicate corruption. Many of the flagged clients are uncontroversial: NV state agencies that testify on bills affecting their operations contribute nothing because they cannot; trade associations testify on behalf of members who contribute through their own committees not the association. The detector surfaces the pattern; the human reader reads down the list and judges each entry.