Perhaps this will allow us to better understand the support special interest groups and individuals receive from state lawmakers, county supervisors, city council members and local district directors. Assemblywoman Jackie Speier, D-Burlingame, set out to shed some light on campaign contributions with her public access bill, AB 3546, which had the support of Secretary of State Bill Jones, a Republican. Rather than being accessible to only the hardy government junkie willing to make a trek to Sacramento where some of these reports are filed, the information would be given wide distribution. Scrutiny by anyone with a computer, or access to a computer would be relatively easy. The votes divided along partisan lines, with the Democratic majority generally favoring the bill and the Republicans either voting against it, or abstaining.
Efforts are under way to attach the proposal to another measure.
Some in Sacramento believe the desire may be to snatch the idea from Speier, a Democrat, and give it to a Republican lawmaker in an attempt to shift credit for election reform. Regardless of who gets the credit, using the Internet to distribute much-needed information about state campaign contributions should be implemented. In fact, the idea is so good that it should be applied to local officeholders. Several Kern County departments have launched fledgling home pages on the Internet to provide constituents with information about government services. Cities throughout the state also have experimented with this effective information highway.