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Disclosure News |
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- Rethinking campaign finance disclosure, Monterey County Herald, April 7, 2006
Excerpt: "Monterey County is taking another look at dropping a county
law that requires political campaign finance reports to be posted
on the Web. The rule is part of a county ordinance originally aimed
at making the financial reports of county candidates and campaigns
more accessible to the public. Because of logistical problems complying
with the rules, county supervisors were poised to repeal the Web-posting
requirement...But now county officials are taking another look at
the proposed changes."
- National: Senate system drags out financial-data disclosure,
USA Today, March 5, 2006
Excerpt: "The Senate is responding this week to a lobbying scandal
by pushing proposals that would force lobbyists to disclose more
information on the Internet about their dealings with lawmakers.
But the Senate remains in the Dark Ages when it comes to disclosing
its own campaign-finance data.
Electronic disclosure of campaign contributions and spending is the norm for other federal political activities: presidential and House campaigns, national political parties, political action committees and even independent political groups. In addition, 25 states require electronic filing. But the Senate relies on an expensive, cumbersome, decades-old system that lags the others by weeks...
The main impact of the Senate's self-exemption from electronic
filing is that last-minute campaign contributions remain unknown
to the public when people go to the polls to vote."
- New Mexico -- Legislature Focuses on Accountability, Farmington Daily Times, January 20, 2006
Excerpt: "The proposed legislation prohibits cash donations in
excess of $100 and increases the reporting of donations to the
Secretary of State from once a year in a nonelection year, to twice
a year. Funds would have to be reported in May and November.
[Governor Bill] Richardson said the state has been given an 'F'
grade when it comes to campaign fund disclosure. 'My reforms would
move us from an F to an A,' he said."
- North Carolina -- Watchdog put Black on the spot; Longtime activist hopes the controversy over campaign financing will spark changes, Raleigh
News & Observer, February 12, 2006
Excerpt: "Bob Hall trained a bulky video camera on the witness
stand and watched optometrists from across the state come forward,
compelled to talk under oath about money they funneled to House
Speaker Jim Black and his allies. The nervous eye doctors, as well
as Black, were brought there in large part because of Hall, a one-time
civil rights activist turned crusader for changes in how money
dominates politics.
It was a formal complaint by Hall, as research director of a Carrboro
campaign watchdog group called Democracy North Carolina, that led
to the hearings last week by the State Board of Elections. By the
end of three days of testimony, an elections board investigator
had outlined multiple violations of state elections laws involving
Black, one of the most powerful political figures in the state,
and his fellow optometrists. And there was the beginning of talk
within the state's political ranks about one of Hall's favorite
subjects: The need for reforms."
Tennessee -- Ethics experts call state's bill a step forward, The Tennessean, February 12, 2006
Excerpt: "One national watchdog group said the Tennessee public
would get more information about candidates and who's funding
them under the new bill.
Significant steps forward include provisions to require candidates to disclose the occupation and employer of contributors, to file multiple campaign reports every year and to file their reports electronically, said Saskia Mills, executive director of the California Voter Foundation, which analyzes campaign disclosure regulations across the country.
In its assessment last year in campaign finance disclosure laws, Tennessee ranked 33rd. The new bill is sure to improve the state's standing, Mills said.
But she said the public still doesn't have enough information
about who's influencing campaigns. The legislature decided not
to require people and groups that make 'independent expenditures'
to report them. Those are campaign ads and mailers made independently
of candidates but that are designed to work for or against them."
- Iowa -- Iowa needs modern campaign disclosure, Quad-City Times, December 4, 2005
Excerpt: "Go hunting in Iowa for Goldstein's contributions and
you'd still be clicking. And printing. And pouring over hundreds
of printouts. That's why Iowa got a F from The Campaign Disclosure
Project's recent assessment of electronic finance disclosure. Illinois
topped the nation with an A+.
Both have Web sites to disclose information. The difference is in how the information is managed and what candidates are required to do. In Illinois, candidates are required to submit their contributions and expenditures electronically, which makes it easier for candidates and the public.
Iowa still allows paper filing. And their entire Web system is
built around those paper records. The forms are scanned, turned
into images and posted on the Web. That might have been A+ work
in, say, 1999. It's very old school in 2005."
- Iowa -- Iowa campaign finance disclosure improving, but still ranks low, Quad-City Times, November 1, 2005
Excerpt:" Iowa's system of disclosing campaign finance information
improved over the past year, but it still got a 'D' from a watchdog
group that said the state's main deficiency is its failure to provide
searchable data. The Campaign Disclosure Project released rankings
last week in which it graded all 50 states on their disclosure
laws and practices. Overall, Iowa ranked 31st, up from 38th.
'Iowa has shown significant improvement this year, raising its overall grade from an F to a D,' the report states. In addition to the state's campaign disclosure law, the availability of electronic filing, accessibility to campaign finance data and Web site utility were measured to come up with a final rating. The study--a collaboration of the California Voter Foundation, the Center for Governmental Studies and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law--was supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts. This is the third year for the survey...
'I'm glad to see we're making strides,' said Charles Smithson, executive director of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, which collects campaign finance information in the state...
Saskia Mills, a spokeswoman for the disclosure project, said 24
states mandate that at least some of their candidates file electronically.
And even without electronic filing, she said, it still is possible
to offer searchable data. In Idaho, for example, state workers
input the data. 'It's better than putting static records on the
Web,' she added."
- Nevada -- Nevada's campaign laws fail in report, Las Vegas Sun, November 1, 2005
Excerpt: "Nevada has one of the weakest campaign expense and contribution
laws in the nation, a new report says. The study, 'Campaign Disclosure
Project,' gives Nevada an F for the second consecutive year and
ranks it 46th in the nation for campaign-reporting laws.
Among the shortcomings in Nevada's law are that it fails to give
details on donors who contribute $100 or more, such as their occupation,
employer and the cumulative amount they have donated, the study
said. The study also faulted the state's laws for providing insufficient
details about how campaign dollars are spent and that enforcement
is weak compared to other states."
- North Carolina -- Computers frustrate campaigns, Wilmington Star News, October 24. 2005
Excerpt: "Much depends on the success of the state board's computerization
of the campaign-finance system. Strapped for resources and short
of people to examine the reports, state elections administrators
hope that automating the process will make filing easier and examining
the reports more efficient.
The more campaigns that file electronically, the fewer documents state workers will have to type into state computers. Currently, the campaign finance division of the state elections board is so busy having to manually enter thousands of pages listing contributors and expenses that they've only audited about 7 percent of the groups that played a role in financing the 2004 elections in North Carolina. State law requires that campaign finance forms be examined within four months of an election.
'In the '90s, we took steps toward electronic reporting,' said
Wib Gulley, a former state senator from Durham who sponsored campaign
finance reform legislation that required filing by computer. 'It
was always seen that we would come back and widen that for state
legislative campaigns, but it didn't happen.'"
South Carolina -- Electronic Campaign Finance Reports Nixed in Governor's Race, AP, June 9, 2005
Excerpt: "South Carolina voters probably won't have Internet
access to information on how money influences the governor's
race next year. The Legislature last month approved $318,000
to implement an electronic campaign finance reporting system
at the urging of Gov. Mark Sanford.
But the electronic campaign finance reporting the Legislature approved likely won't be operating in time for the 2006 elections, said Herb Hayden, the State Ethics Commission's executive director...
South Carolina is one of a dozen states--including Alabama, Idaho,
Mississippi, Vermont and Wyoming--that does not have electronic
campaign finance report filing, according to the Campaign Disclosure
Project. That's a project run by the California Voter Foundation,
the Center for Governmental Studies and the UCLA School of Law."
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