Hosemann to start searchable campaign finance system

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said he plans to roll out a "searchable" online campaign finance filing system for state elections on Sept. 27.

The system will be voluntary for candidates and committees. Hosemann said he lacks authority to make it mandatory. Those who wish to mail or fax paper reports -- even handwritten ones -- can continue to do so, but Hosemann said he expects "the more tech savvy" candidates for statewide, legislative, judicial and other races will choose to use the new system. They can fill out templates on the secretary of state's website.

"They can aggregate them as they go along on the template, then hit a button and file," Hosemann said. The new system will be available for reports due Jan. 31 of 2017, covering contributions and expenditures from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 of this year.

"It has taken us a long time to do this," Hosemann said.

Mississippi is one of few states without a campaign finance data system that people can search electronically for donors, expenditures and other information. The neighboring states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee all have searchable campaign finance sites. In Mississippi, state campaign finance records are available online, but they are in PDF format -- essentially pictures of pages of records that must be printed or perused and searched or tallied manually.

Hosemann has in the past said converting to a searchable campaign database would be too expensive and that many Mississippi politicians lack the computer technology or savvy to use such a system. He said the new system he plans to launch in September cost $90,000 and he kept costs down by using in-house information technology workers to help an IT contractor. The system will allow input and output using the popular Microsoft Excel software, an IT worker in Hosemann's office said.

While Mississippi may be stuck in the 20th Century with public campaign finance disclosure, Hosemann said his office is a national leader in online services and data for businesses and economic development and recently has won national awards.

Hosemann said he plans to push lawmakers again next year for election and campaign finance reform, including a measure to require candidates to itemize spending on credit cards. Politicians are supposed to itemize purchases of $250 or more on their reports, but many use a credit card and list only a lump sum payment to the card company.

An ongoing Clarion-Ledger report, Public Office/Private Gain, has shown that many politicians take advantage of Mississippi's weak campaign finance laws and reporting requirements and nearly nonexistent enforcement to spend campaign money in ways that would land them in jail in most other states. Mississippi lawmakers have spent campaign funds on cars, apartments, clothes, shoes, out of state trips, children's parties, taxes, car insurance, and payments to their own companies. The setup has been described as "legalized bribery," allowing politicians to line their own pockets with money from special interests and lobbyists in ways most states and the federal government prohibit.

In the 2016 legislative session, the Senate passed reform measures that would restrict politicians using campaign money for some personal expenses and prohibit them hiding the spending with credit cards, but the House killed the measure in a bipartisan voice vote. House Speaker Philip Gunn has vowed to push the reforms again in 2017.

Contact Geoff Pender at 601-961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter.