Group says new campaign finance Web site failing the public; GAB disagrees

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Talk about it

The president of a political watchdog group claims the public is being denied access to campaign finance information because of difficulties with the state's new campaign finance Web site.

"The public is being denied access to information they were able to get before," said Mike McCabe, president of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

McCabe claims that the new system, operated by the Government Accountability Board, is not only difficult for the public to retrieve information from, but also hard for campaign and political action groups to use.

"We would normally have a report out about January campaign filings, but because the system is missing so much information we are not able to do so," McCabe said.

He added that he doesn't fault the candidates, campaign treasurers or political committees:

"I'd say right now the new system is a mess," McCabe said.

However, a spokesman for the GAB said the site provides quicker access to information and it is primarily a case of getting used to something new. The site was piloted in November and all campaigns were required to use the site starting in January.

"After we explain how to use it they, (campaign treasurers) find it easier to use than the old system," said Kyle Richmond, GAB public information officer.

He also said the system will make campaign finance more transparent in the state because the new system allows for information entered by campaign staffs to be seen almost immediately by the public.

"The overall goal is not to make the system easier on the campaigns, but to make it more transparent so that people can see where campaign money is coming from and where it is being spent," Richmond said.

"When you report it (campaign finances), it's up there," he added.

On top of being difficult to use, McCabe said that the information they are able to get is not accurate.

He pointed out that WDC found $178,454 in committee contributions attributed to the GAB, but that they were found in paper reports filed by the State Senate Democratic Committee and Assembly Democratic Campaign. Both groups are heavy legislative fundraisers.

On top of that, $124,815 in staff wages plus office supplies from the two committees was attributed to GAB.

Richmond argued that it wasn't the system's fault for the wrong information, but a user problem.

"Anyone could file the wrong information," Richmond said.

Richmond added that GAB is offering training to campaign staffs on how to use the system.

Another WDC complaint about the system is that it does away with paper reports which could be used as a backup to the electronic forms.

Richmond noted that paper reports are still available for those campaigns with $20,000 or less in activity. He also noted that on the new site PDF versions of campaign finance reports can be printed out.

While he argues the site is an improvement, Richmond acknowledged there are still bugs to work out.

"As campaigns point out problems to us we get them fixed," he said.

The Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System Web site can be accessed through the GAB Web site (http://elections.state.wi.us).

More information about WDC can be found on their Web site (www.wdc.org).

Contact Brady Bautch at internet@rivertowns.net

Tags: wisconsin news, government accountability board, new web site, problems