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From May
26, 2002 edition of Courier-Journal FRANKFORT, Ky. -- You think you've decided to vote for certain candidates in Tuesday's primary election. Then you realize you don't have some potentially important information -- where the candidates got their money. But today is Sunday and tomorrow is a holiday, and the offices that keep candidates' campaign-finance reports -- the state Registry of Election Finance in Frankfort, and the elections office in the county where the candidate lives -- are closed. Not very convenient, perhaps. But in this election, for the first time, the information in many of the reports is available online, in a database created and maintained by the election registry. With a few mouse clicks and keystrokes, voters can see the information for most state legislative candidates and many candidates for local office. People in both parties who follow politics say it should be a big help. ''The searchable site is very good and a major improvement in public access to information,'' said John David Dyche, a Louisville lawyer and Republican political columnist. ''It is constituent-friendly and definitely a huge improvement for elections and technology in Kentucky,'' said Democrat Rob Haynes, spokesman for the Louisville Board of Aldermen. Many of the latest reports by local candidates are not in the database, because relatively few candidates are filing their reports electronically, so registry employees must type in the information from paper reports. The eight employees entering the data haven't gotten through many of the local candidates' reports because the legislature required the registry to give top priority to reports by statewide and legislative candidates. Also, reports for some of those candidates may not be available because the registry is examining the reports for possible discrepancies. The online system is especially useful in multicounty legislative races, because paper reports are filed only in Frankfort and a candidate's home county. Even going to the local courthouse can be intimidating for some citizens, said Jan Petty, records specialist at the registry. ''They say, 'I don't want to go down there.' Counties are so small, a lot of them don't want their neighbor to know what they're doing,'' Petty said. ''If they can get online, they can search without anyone knowing who it is.'' The database is still being developed and refined, but has room to grow because the project has consumed less than $200,000 of the $416,000 budgeted for it, said its director, Steve Smith. Adding some search functions, such as the ability to list only a candidate's contributions from the political action committees of lobbying interests, will cost another $25,000, said Sarah Jackson, the registry's executive director. She said she hopes to make the extra functions available in time for the general election in November. Dyche said the legislature should require candidates to report their financial information electronically and immediately, rather than periodically. He pointed out that contributions made in the two weeks before an election are not reported until after the election. In federal elections, contributions of $1,000 or more must be reported within 48 hours. The federal limits are $1,000 for individuals and $5,000 for PACs; the state limit for both is $1,000. The legislature has rejected mandatory electronic reporting, and Secretary of State John Y. Brown III has been unable to persuade it to eliminate the two-week pre-election loophole. But some of Dyche's fellow Republicans have been suggesting immediate, online reporting as part of changes they are seeking in campaign-finance laws. Smith said the registry is getting electronic reports from about 17 percent of the primary candidates who had to file a full schedule of reports because they planned to raise or spend more than $3,000. He said the percentage is higher among candidates for the legislature and the new Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Council. The registry's home
page is Its searchable database
is www.kref.state.ky.us/ |
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