Minor
improvements in three Grading State Disclosure
categories, along with an adjustment
to Pennsylvania’s law score, caused
the state’s overall grade to rise
from an F to a D. There are still
significant deficiencies in Pennsylvania’s
disclosure program, particularly in the
area of Disclosure Content Accessibility.
Pennsylvania
candidates must file once in non-election
years and twice before each election. Candidates are required
to disclose details about contributors
who give $50 or more, including occupation
and employer for those giving over $250. Last-minute
contributions of $500 or more must be disclosed
prior to the election. Every expenditure
must be disclosed, but subvendor information
is not required. Independent expenditures
are reported, and those made at the last
minute must be reported before the election. Pennsylvania’s
law score was adjusted in 2004 based on
new information about in-kind contribution
reporting, which is the reason for the
increase from a C to a B in this category. Electronic
filing of campaign finance reports is voluntary
for statewide and legislative candidates.
Although
the agency posts all campaign finance
reports on its web site in a format that
allows browsing, sorting and downloading,
there are still no searchable databases
of contributions and expenditures online. Citizens,
activists, reporters and others who are
trying to pinpoint particular contributions
can instead use Representative Greg Vitali’s
searchable database, which he offers as
an alternative to the Department of State’s
site and maintains at www.pacampaigns.com. Access
to paper copies of reports improved in
2004; requests must still be made in writing,
but copies are available within two to
five business days.
Pennsylvania’s Online Contextual
and Technical Usability grade improved
slightly from a D- to a D, because the
Department of State’s web site now
includes some information to help site
visitors determine whose reports are available
there and what time period is covered by
the online records. The most important
resource Pennsylvania could add to its
disclosure web site is overview information,
in the form of a list of candidates and
how much each raised and spent in the current
election cycle. Because campaign
records are already in a digital format,
such a list should be relatively easy to
compile and feature online.
