BEN NEARY Associated Press writer | Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - The Wyoming House of Representatives voted Monday to let politicians themselves decide whether records of their campaign contributions should be submitted to a proposed, $2.5 million online state campaign reporting system.
The House voted 30-29 to amend a campaign-reporting bill on its first reading. The measure requires two more hearings in the House before it could head to the Senate.
Supporters of the amendment said it would make the reporting system fairer for state residents who don't know how to use computers, or lack computer access.
Critics of the change, however, said that it would render the entire proposed reporting system incomplete.
Wyoming is the only state without a searchable, online campaign information system, state election officials say. The state has ranked last in recent years in public accessibility to campaign finance information.
Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, R-Thermopolis, sponsored the proposed amendment to let politicians themselves decide whether to submit their campaign information online, or whether to continue to submit it in written form.
"From 2003 to date, the secretary of state has nothing to bring forward electronic filing," Quarberg said. "To start out by making it mandatory, I think is just not fair to the citizens of this state."
Rep. Debbie Hammons, D-Worland, also sponsored the proposal. She said that not everyone in the state can handle computers. "I don't want us to keep one qualified person from serving in this state," she said.
Rep. Pete Illoway, R-Cheyenne, argued against the proposed amendment. He said that the original version of the bill wouldn't make online reporting mandatory until the end of 2009.
The proposed amendment passed 30-29. That prompted House Majority Floor Leader Colin Simpson, R-Cody, to remark, "I just question why we pay $2.5 million for a database you can't search."
Simpson later said that he questions why the database should be so expensive. He said that if the state is going to spend the money, the system needs to work, meaning that it needs to be complete and searchable.
"I don't know what we'll do with it," Simpson said of the bill. "I don't know if it will even pass."
Hammons said after the House vote that the database still would allow the public to search records from politicians who choose not to file their information online. She said that images of their reports still could be read online, although they couldn't be searched as part of the database.
Dan Neal, director of the Equality State Policy Center - a government watchdog group - said after Tuesday's vote that he doesn't buy the argument that requiring people to file electronically would put too great a burden on people without access to computers.
"The question is, is the burden on the person who wants to run for the office, is that greater than the benefits the public would get from having a truly searchable database," Neal said. "We don't think it is that great a burden."