It's Time for Dallas County to Open up the Books

As I walk on this journey of tracking the money behind the message, one thing is strikingly obvious.

Dallas County needs to make its campaign finance reports more accessible. The County needs to follow the lead of the City of Dallas and the State of Texas and put all financial reports online.

So you wonder... how do you make an open records request at the County? Let's go straight to the source - the Dallas County website. Check out this (link).

So... if you want to request information about a specific elected official, the elected official's office is responsible for your request.

Why does Dallas County make it difficult to investigate and acquire campaign finance reports? Unlike the City Of Dallas (who recently brought forth a plan to make even more info readily available), the County has no way to search or inspect information online.

You’d think if they could afford to spend $40 million to renovate the George Allen building, they could afford to put a system in place where finance records could be searched in relative anonymity. Having to submit a written request directly to the official's office puts a bulls-eye on your back.

Since they do have the money, I will surmise that such a task can be completed. But there has to be a push from somewhere. Either from the Dallas County Commissioners or from some other division within the halls of Dallas County.

State Info is available at http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/php/cesearch.html (link)

Dallas City Info is available at http://www.ci.dallas.tx.us/cso/camp-fin/finreports.shtml (link)

The Dallas city secretary’s office has been posting electronic copies of each council member’s contributions and expenditure reports since January 2000.

How long is it going to take for Dallas County to get on board and make campaign finance info readily available to all citizens?

Dallas County residents deserve to know.