Campaign Financial Data On-Line : Disclosures Filed With FEC Are Available Via Computer

Financial details disclosed to the Federal Election Commission will be as close as the telephone to desk-top computer users.

With the use of a modem, a device which allows computer operators to send or receive information via telephone lines, information filed with the commission by candidates for federal office, political action committees, political parties and large individual contributors will be instantly available.

According to several campaign finance experts, the commission’s move is likely to make the financial end of national politics more open to academic, media and general public scrutiny.

John Surina, commission staff director, explained: “The whole thrust of this program is that if the general public is aware of where the money comes from in politics, the players are going to be a little more conscious of playing by the rules of the statute. This type of program should be largely self-enforcing.”

Jane Memtzinger, director of the campaign finance monitoring project undertaken by the self-styled citizens lobby Common Cause, agreed. “I think the more the public is aware of campaign disclosure, the more the problems of money in politics will come to light,” she said.

“There’s only one (campaign finance) reform that people generally think is a success, and that’s public disclosure,” said Larry Sabato, a professor of government at the University of Virginia and an authority on political action committees. “But it has only been a success theoretically. The problem is that the financial information doesn’t catch up until after the election.”

Up to now, Memtzinger said, Common Cause has had to obtain copies of the individual campaign finance reports from the commission if her group chose to make a quick data compilation. In fact, Common Cause has compiled and released comprehensive campaign finance figures quicker than the commission.

The commission is the repository of political finance disclosure records mandated by the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act. Until recently, people wanting detailed information have had to go to the commission’s Washington, D.C., office, settle for limited data over the commission’s toll-free public information line, buy computer tapes from the commission, wait for commission indexes to be mailed or use the voluminous, but not up-to-the-minute microfilm library available locally at the Citizens’ Research Foundation.

“It’s not just access, but speedy access,” said Herbert E. Alexander, director of the foundation, a nonpartisan research group that studies the role of money in elections. His group has already purchased time on the system.

The new service, which began Sept. 3, is offered in addition to the commission’s ongoing remote access project. That service, begun last year, allows access to the commission’s computer indexes through state government offices. By the end of the year, 25 states are expected to be on-line.

According to Surina, the success of the state program and requests from campaign finance researchers led to the new access system for microcomputer users. “It is not a great leap of technology,” he said.

Available Data

Formatted and unformatted information is available. The formatted data are similar to the indexes currently available from the commission. They include an alphabetical listing of all political committees registered with the commission, an index providing a cross-reference to all records on an individual candidate, an index to each political committee and an index providing an alphabetical listing of persons making contributions of $500 or more to candidates.

While some indexes are provided free and others for a fee, the on-line service will make more information accessible more quickly to people throughout the country, Surina said.

“If someone wants hard copy (indexes) on a candidate, we’ll run those off free until 19 or 20 candidates,” he said. “It (direct access) is another alternative in getting the information.”

Of greater interest to campaign finance researchers is the availability of unformatted data that will allow a microcomputer user to transfer raw data from the commission onto floppy or hard disks.

Available information includes data on contributions, candidate expenses and financial organization over the 1983-84 and 1985-86 election cycles, federal candidates and federally registered committees, and political action committee funds.

According to Surina, the unformatted information should be compatible with popular brands of microcomputers and spread-sheet software programs. “It’s in their interest to be compatible with any number of computer devices,” he said.

Stimulate Research

Sabato predicted the on-line availability of raw data will stimulate research by candidates and groups that, until now, have been too far away to take advantage of the commission’s raw data compilations.

He also speculated that “opposing campaigns will be using it to the hilt” and said that groups which ideologically oppose one another (such as anti- and pro-choice abortion groups) will step up research to be used against one another.

The new availability of disclosure information may change how some large political contributions are given and accepted. According to Sabato, “It could encourage PACs to make more late contributions if large early contributions make them a focus of the campaign.”

Jacobson was less inclined to predict that contribution patterns will be altered, but said “PACs that really want to avoid disclosure can give after the campaign and help pay off the candidate’s debt.” However, he said, donations early in the campaign are of more value since campaign managers can plan further ahead.

According to Fred Eiland, commission press officer, between 150 and 160 people attended three briefing seminars regarding the new system. The commission has received more than 200 responses of interest in the new system, and 14 people or groups or have paid for time on the system in its early stages. According to Eiland, the users are “a mixed bag,” including political action committees, political consultants and journalists.

Sharon Snyder, commission assistant press officer, said she does not believe on-line service will decrease in-person use of the commission’s Washington office, but the number of hard-copy indexes could decline.

Surina said he does not believe it will decrease the commission’s other public information operations. “It seems like the more questions you answer, the more you generate,” he said.

Data Updated Daily

Snyder said some information on political committees and parties could be available almost immediately, since the commission’s data base is updated daily. Reports submitted by House and Senate candidates are delayed several days since they are initially filed with the clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate, respectively.

Individual contributors of $500 or more are key-punched last. They may not be on-line for 30 to 60 days after a report deadline, Snyder said.

The cost of the program--$50 an hour billed in 15-minute intervals or $1,000 a month for unlimited use--could deter its utilization, Alexander said. “The question will be if academics have the money available for this kind of on-line opportunity,” he said.

“It’s expensive, certainly,” Memtzinger said. “It’s not available to everybody.”

Surina said the commission is not making a profit from the service, which it has contracted out to National Data Corp. “It is essentially the same price we pay for service,” he said. “When we negotiated with the vendor, we tried to bring (the cost) down to the smallest possible unit.”

Surina said he believes the new system will make the nation’s campaign finance laws work more efficiently. “That process doesn’t work if the information is just buried in Washington.”