Ownership & Disclosure

We think readers of a publication like this one deserve a plain answer to a plain question: who is behind it, and does that create a conflict of interest? Here is that answer, stated directly.

Who publishes this site

Federal Policy Monitor is published by Cottonwood Communications, and its publisher is Ben Watson. This is a genuine editorial publication. Our research, explainers, and data are produced under our editorial standards, and our editorial coverage is not sold to subjects, clients, or prospective clients.

How this connects to federal advocacy services

Federal Policy Monitor is published by Cottonwood Communications. Its publisher, Ben Watson, also works professionally in federal advocacy and lobbying in Washington, D.C. We disclose that relationship because readers should understand the publisher’s professional interests, and because inquiries arising from Federal Policy Monitor may lead to conversations about advocacy services. Federal Policy Monitor’s editorial decisions are made separately from those advocacy activities: our editorial content is not written to promote them, and coverage decisions — what we write about, what our data shows, and how we describe it — are made on editorial judgment. See our editorial standards for how that separation is maintained in practice.

How Federal Advocacy Opportunity Scan submissions are handled

The Federal Advocacy Opportunity Scan is an intake tool, not an editorial feature. If you submit information through it, here is what happens to it, plainly:

• Your answers generate the preliminary assessment shown to you. The answers and the contact details you provide are then sent by email to our team so we can follow up if you’ve asked for that. We do not sell your information, and we do not add you to any mailing list.
• Follow-up on Scan submissions is handled through the publisher’s professional federal advocacy and lobbying work, as described above — not by the editorial side of Federal Policy Monitor.
• Submitting a Scan does not create any obligation on your part, and does not affect whether or how we cover any topic editorially.

What this publication is not

We are not a neutral government body, and we are not an academic institution. We are an editorial publication whose editorial decisions are made separately from its publisher’s federal advocacy work, as disclosed above, and we would rather be judged on the accuracy and usefulness of what we publish, sourced transparently, than ask you to take that separation on faith.