Good news for political junkies -- Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman announced today that the county is joining the city and state by putting candidates' campaign-finance forms
online.
"The public can now view information pertaining to campaign contributions to local county officeholders and candidates with a click of the mouse", she said, showing an admirable grasp of this fancy, new Internet lingo.
Previously only Commissioners Court filings were available online; now every county official is.
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You can learn that district judges get huge campaign donations from lawyers who practice in their court! That District Judge Tad Halbach spent some his campaign money buying subscriptions to People, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report and Hunting magazine "for the jury room"! (Wait -- Hunting magazine?)
For anyone who's dealt with the drudgery of looking up campaign reports under the old system, this is a godsend.
Now if Kaufman can get things beyond the PDF stage, so documents can be searchable by donor, things would really be rocking.
-- Richard Connelly