Online campaign filings for county officials

Sounds good to me.

About six months after Houston officials began filing their campaign contribution and spending reports in a searchable online database, Harris County's top executive says he wants the county to follow suit.

Faced with the rising profile of campaign ethics as a platform issue in the Harris County judge's race, incumbent Ed Emmett is proposing a series of reforms, beginning early this year, that he said will make county campaigns more transparent to voters.

Among other proposed changes, Emmett said he intends to lobby the Texas Legislature in 2009 for the power, if not the requirement, to make large counties disclose their elected officials' campaign filings in an online database, similar to those used by state lawmakers and Houston city officials.

A preliminary review of the issue last month by the Harris County Attorney's office suggested the county could not make the change without legislative approval.

Emmett also said he soon plans to host a Texas Ethics Commission workshop on campaign ethics for county officials and other interested parties. Some politicians and their bookkeepers, he said, have only a vague understanding of the laws governing campaign contributions and spending.

"We need to have full and easy disclosure of all contributions and expenditures," Emmett said. "(The workshop) keeps people from being able to say, 'I don't understand this stuff.' "

The ethics issue, which broadly relates to the receiving and spending of campaign contributions, has gained prominence in recent weeks, after media reports highlighted the extensive fundraising and vague disclosure of some Harris County Commissioners Court members, notably Commissioner Jerry Eversole, who faces a district attorney's investigation into questionable campaign spending.

Charles Bacarisse, Emmett's opponent in the upcoming Republican primary election, announced before his official filing in early December that he would make ethics reform one of the five core issues of his campaign.

Democratic county judge candidate David Mincberg also trumpeted ethics as a central campaign issue when he filed for the race last month.

[...]

Each member of Commissioners Court has said in recent months that they do not oppose the idea of database disclosure.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, who occasionally sparred with former Judge Robert Eckels over ethics issues, said he supports Emmett's plans.

"I think they're great proposals," he said. "If they want (campaign reports) filed online, that's fine with me."

I'm glad to hear about this change in attitude, but I wonder what took it so long. I know that Robert Eckels advocated for contribution limits, which went over poorly on the Court. Is this really the first time making campaign finance information available online has been proposed? If so, all I can say is it's been a long time coming.

State Rep. Wayne Smith, a Baytown Republican who chairs the House County Affairs Committee, said he and Emmett briefly have discussed several of the proposals and said they will hold further talks in coming months.

If Emmett does not successfully lobby for the disclosure provision, he said he intends to encourage online disclosure as a de facto standard among all county elected officials by making his reports available and encouraging others to do the same.

I realize that bills fail in the Lege all the time, but it's still a bit hard to imagine that something like this will have a hard time. It will be interesting to see what if any opposition forms to it, though. Stay tuned.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 07, 2008 to Local politics