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Although
the Grading State Disclosure project is a study of campaign
finance disclosure programs at the state level, there are
also some excellent programs at the local level. For several
years now, many cities around the country have been engaged
in electronic filing and Internet disclosure programs – most
notably, Los Angeles, New York , San Francisco and Seattle.
These local programs provide good models for successful online
disclosure at any level of government.
New York's program dovetails with the city's public campaign
financing program. Candidates who receive public funds
are required to electronically file campaign finance disclosure
statements. The program is run by the New York City Campaign
Finance Board (NYCCFB). This local agency is also responsible
for educating New York City voters, distributing public matching
funds to candidates, auditing campaign disclosure reports
and organizing campaign debates.
At the heart of New York City disclosure is an electronic
filing software program called C-SMART (Candidate Software
for Managing and Reporting Transactions) that is provided
free to city candidates. The first version of the
software became available in 1993, and it has been upgraded
three times since then. With each upgrade, NYCCFB
has enhanced the software's functionality and ensured the
software is both technologically up-to-date and stays current
with the city's campaign finance laws.
The software
is personalized for each filer, which helps facilitate
more accurate disclosure. C-SMART also comes equipped with
a few “bells and whistles” that
are helpful to both the filer and the disclosure agency.
For example, the software will generate error messages that
warn filers when they omit data that is required in order
to receive public matching funds for their contributions,
thus helping candidates avoid delays in public funds payments
and penalties for incomplete disclosure reports. The software
also allows filers to extract data and utilize it in other
programs in order to conduct other campaign fundraising activities
such as generating thank-you letters to donors. Another
beneficial feature simplifies the filer's data entry needs
by automatically filling in address information for preexisting
donors.
NYCCFB began placing candidate data on the Internet in 1998;
the web site, www.nyccfb.info,
currently features campaign finance information dating back
to 1989. The agency's press secretary reviews the
disclosure web site to help ensure its user-friendliness. The
database includes contributions and expenditures for candidates
who have filed electronically; however, candidates who do
not participate in the public financing program, such as
current New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, do not have
to file electronically and therefore their campaign data
is not included in the online database.
NYCCFB reports that 80 - 90 percent of candidates are participating
in the city's electronic filing program. Visitors
to the site can search databases of contributions as well
as expenditures. The database search features tell
the user how many records a query has retrieved before displaying
that information, which allows users to narrow their search
criteria in case their query was too broad. Itemized
contribution reports provide each donor's occupation and
address, the donor's employer and address, and the name of
any intermediary who facilitated the contribution. Other
data contained in the disclosure reports, such as information
about loans, partners and subcontractors, can be searched
as well. Itemized data can be downloaded for offline
sorting and analyzing.
New York City's electronic filing program has helped journalists
analyze campaign finance data and more easily identify trends
to report to the public. Since the agency started putting
reports online, requests for paper documents have sharply declined. NYCCFB
reports that electronic filing has also greatly enhanced the
agency's ability to conduct audits of disclosure reports. |
