Political money is now easier to track

SACRAMENTO — Californians will have an easier time determining who is giving money to political candidates and causes with a new tool on the secretary of state’s website.

The antiquated Cal-Access system, which shows political donations and lobbying information on the site, is clunky and difficult to use, especially for searching and sorting the data.

A new search engine will help users see more fully and easily the money received by candidates and ballot-measure campaigns. It will also be easier to see where industries and other special interests are concentrating their money.

“The public and press should have quick and easy access to campaign finance information,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in announcing the upgrades. The new search mechanism provides “a clearer view of the flow of campaign dollars.”

The new tool, developed by the nonprofit group Map-Light, which tracks political money, allows searches by geography, dollar amounts and time periods going back to 2001. It also allows quick determination of totals in specific elections.

In a demonstration, Map-Light President Daniel G. Newman retrieved the records of all contributions from Realtors in one case and from Microsoft employees in another.

The new system, developed with a $100,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation, still has a few flaws, Padilla said. For example, the information is provided by candidates, political action committees and others, so it will contain any errors they make in their filings, including misspelled names.

The search engine is available at www.sos.ca.gov, through a green button labeled “Power Search Contributions.”

Power Search is the first step in modernizing the state’s campaign reporting system, Padilla said.