System for telling campaign finance data gets C grade

Washington ranked first in the nation for its campaign finance disclosure system in a new survey, and while Idaho earned a “C” overall and ranked 26th, the Gem State got top marks for its user-friendly state Web site where people can browse through campaign finance data.

This is the fourth time since 2003 that Washington has topped the “Grading State Disclosure” survey, and the second time Idaho’s campaign finance site has won top marks. The survey is a project of the University of California-Los Angeles School of Law and two other groups, and is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Vicki Rippie, executive director of the Washington State Public Disclosure Commisson, said, “Transparency in government and the public’s right to know who is financing political campaigns are as important today as they were 35 years ago, when Washington voters created and empowered the commission.”

Washington earned an A in three of four categories – its campaign disclosure laws, its electronic filing program (A-plus), and accessibility of its disclosure data. In the online usability category, Washington got a C grade.

The survey found that the state’s Web site included confusing terms that made it difficult for less advanced users to locate specific data, but noted that a new data search system is in the works.

That was the same category in which Idaho earned an A-plus and ranked first in the nation. “The Secretary of State’s site is easy to navigate and contains thorough descriptions of the data available, as well as how to access it,” the survey found.

Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said, “We’re in the public information business, and the Internet is a valuable tool for good and instant disclosure, so we’re taking advantage of that. It’s a work in progress.”

Idaho earned a B-minus for its campaign finance disclosure laws – marked down in part because it doesn’t require donors’ occupations to be reported – and an F for not having an electronic filing program.

However, the survey noted that Idaho’s system of scanning in paper reports and posting them on the Internet within 24 hours, combined with its manual entry of all campaign finance data into a searchable database, allows it to beat some electronic filing states in the speed with which it makes the data available to the public. That earned the state a C in the fourth category, disclosure content accessibility.

The manual entering of the data is “painstaking,” Ysursa said, and he’s hoping that Idaho will be able to start electronic filing for some reports in two years.

Ysursa noted that Idaho voters passed the state’s “Sunshine Law” by initiative in 1974 to require public disclosure of campaign finances. “The key is getting the disclosure information out to the public,” he said. “I think we’re doing a real good job in that area, and we’ve been recognized for that.”

He credited his office’s election law and information technology specialist, Pat Herman, for the Web site’s user-friendly features.

The new survey didn’t include information on requiring disclosure of officeholders’ personal finances. That’s a measure on which Idaho has ranked last in numerous national comparisons. Washington’s laws requiring such disclosure are among the nation’s strongest.