contacts_filter.py

import csv, re

SEARCH_TERMS = [re.compile(term, re.I) for term in [r"(?<!white )house", "HFAC", "Congressman", "Congresswoman", "Congressional", "Senate", "Senator"]]
SEARCH_COLS = ["contact_title", "contact_name", "contact_office", "contact_agency"]

csv_infile = open('contacts.csv', 'rb')
csv_in = csv.DictReader(csv_infile)

csv_outfile = open('contacts_filtered.csv', 'wb')
csv_out = csv.DictWriter(csv_outfile, csv_in.fieldnames)
csv_out.writeheader()

for row in csv_in:
    if any([term.search(row[col]) for term in SEARCH_TERMS for col in SEARCH_COLS]):
        csv_out.writerow(row)