COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina voters probably won't have Internet access to information on how money influences the governor's race next year.
The Legislature last month approved $318,000 to implement an electronic campaign finance reporting system at the urging of Gov. Mark Sanford.
But the electronic campaign finance reporting the Legislature approved likely won't be operating in time for the 2006 elections, said Herb Hayden, the State Ethics Commission's executive director.
"It's just going to take too much time," Hayden said.
Hayden says it will take at least six months to put the work out for bid. And implementing it will take an unknown amount of time.
"As soon as we can get it up and running, we're going to get it up and running," Kenneth Krawcheck, the Ethics Commission's chairman, said.
"We're just gratified the Legislature has funded it," Krawcheck said.
That's not what Sanford or legislators expected to hear.
Sanford campaigned on tougher disclosure laws in 2002. "The fact that it took this long to get it funded and it is taking this long to get implemented is not acceptable by his standards at all," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said. "We'll do whatever we can to speed the process along."
"I'm certainly disappointed," Senate Ethics Chairman Wes Hayes, R-Rock Hill, said. Hayes is responsible for monitoring campaign finance reports for senators. The 2006 gubernatorial election - with expectations of more than $14 million being raised and spent in the contest - was one of reasons legislators wanted an electronic reporting system in place, Hayes said.
The election was a "motivating factor for the General Assembly putting the money there to put (reports) online," said Rep. Roland Smith, chairman of the House Ethics Committee.
South Carolina is one of a dozen states - including Alabama, Idaho, Mississippi, Vermont and Wyoming - that does not have electronic campaign finance report filing, according to the Campaign Disclosure Project. That's a project run by the California Voter Foundation, the Center for Governmental Studies and the UCLA School of Law.
The delay is uncalled for, said John Crangle, state director for the Washington-based government watchdog group Common Cause. The money for the project was in Sanford's executive budget and survived throughout the budget process, Crangle said. The agency should have at least been prepared to seek bids immediately, Crangle said.
"I'm surprised they weren't ready," he said.
Hayden said the agency spent months gathering preliminary data. And it was unclear exactly how much money would be available after the House cut spending on the project to $150,000. The Senate increased the amount back to $318,000.
The public and media have a right to easy access to who's giving what to influence races and how that cash is being doled out, Crangle said. At a minimum, the Ethics Commission should find a way to do something to disclose fund-raising and spending in the biggest-dollar race, Crangle said.
"Unless there is a serious technological barrier to them at least doing the governor's race next year, they ought go ahead and do it," Crangle said.
Something "would be better than nothing," Hayes said.
Hayden and Krawcheck said they would consider trying to get at least some races' disclosure forms online if possible.
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