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The State of Disclosure in Massachusetts
With a stronger performance in the area of
web site usability this year, Massachusetts
climbed into the B range in 2007 for the first
time. Massachusetts earned grades in the A
range in both the usability and Electronic
Filing categories.
The
state’s weakest area is its campaign
disclosure law, which earned a C- in 2007.
Massachusetts requires candidates to report
details for contributors giving at least $50,
including occupation and employer data for
those contributing $200 or more. Expenditures
above $50 are reported, but details about subvendor
payments are not required. Independent expenditures
must be disclosed, but there is no pre-election
reporting of either last-minute independent
expenditures or contributions. Massachusetts
has an excellent electronic filing program
and shares the top ranking in this category.
With a mandatory program for all statewide
candidates who raise or spend $50,000 within
an election cycle and a $5,000 threshold for
legislative candidates, nearly all candidates
in Massachusetts must file disclosure reports
electronically.
Little
has changed in terms of the public’s
ability to access candidate campaign finance
data in Massachusetts since 2005. The state
again earned a B and remained in the top 20
overall in the Disclosure Content Accessibility
category. The Office of Campaign and Political
Finance (OCPF) provides good access to campaign
records online through searchable databases
of contributions and expenditures, as well
as complete filings that can be browsed online.
To make the system even more complete, the
agency could add data from paper-filed reports
to its databases, and give site users the ability
to search by contributor zip code, expenditure
amount, and expenditure purpose, all of which
are included in the search results. The OCPF
site contains instructions for accessing campaign
data online or in person, as well as for requesting
copies of reports by mail.
Higher performance on the usability test in 2007
earned Massachusetts a second place ranking and
an A- in the usability category. Testers reported
a more positive experience with the site than
in 2005, along with higher levels of confidence
in the accuracy of the data they found. The OCPF
continues to offer excellent contextual information
to site visitors, including overviews of total
funds raised and spent by candidates and a detailed
explanation of the contents of the databases.
The OCPF could enhance the candidate listings
on the site by organizing the lists by year and
office sought, rather than listing all registered
candidates by last name.
→ Quick
Fix: Allow users to search the
contributions database by zip code
and the expenditures database by amount
and expenditure purpose.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: The “Electronic
Report Log” lists the most recently
filed reports, allowing the public and
the media to track campaign data as soon
as it becomes available. View
image
 Disclosure Agency: Office of Campaign and Political Finance
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.state.ma.us/ocpf
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