Public records slower to follow information age

Jane Marshall looked at a computer screen at the Yuba County Superior Court and said four words not often heard in the halls of justice.

"This is totally cool," Marshall said Thursday of the public documents available at courthouse computers.

An investigative technician with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Marshall makes her way to courts around Northern California to review public records.

Yuba County scanning documents that can be accessed at three computers for the public puts the courthouse ahead of the paper files that, in the digital age, still dominate most halls of justice, including Sutter County Superior Court.

But the scanned documents don't mean that public records from the Yuba courts can be viewed online by people at work or in their homes. Court records, like campaign contribution statements filed during political campaigns, still require a trip to government offices to read.

Weather conditions in Moscow can be accessed immediately on the Internet, but you have to drive downtown to find out who's contributed to the campaigns of officeholders in Yuba or Sutter counties — and to see what legal actions may have been filed against cities and counties, as well as all other court records.

Kim Alexander, who in 1994 started the Sacramento-based California Voter Foundation after realizing the opportunities the Internet provides to inform the public, said campaign contributions should be online.

"Voters like following the money," Alexander said. "The public deserves to be able to access that data."

Looking at a candidate's donors is a great clue to what they'll do in office, she noted.

Donna Johnston, clerk-recorder for Sutter County, said such records may be available online by June 2009.

"The technology is there, let's put it that way," said Johnston.

Can court records be accessed by the public on the Internet?

"The volume doesn't warrant the cost," said Len LeTellier, executive officer of Sutter County Superior Court.

Moreover, he said, the state plans a new case management system for electronic filing of court documents that will standardize records in California.

"We're getting by until this new system comes out," LeTellier said of the state computer filing that may still be several years away.

Campaign cash can be easier to access than court records.

Alexander was able to access on her computer the contributions filed by Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who successfully ran for Sacramento mayor.

That Internet availability can run into the resistance from officeholders not liking the idea of having anyone with a computer know who's bankrolling their campaigns, Alexander added.

"Most politicians would not want to make their contributions more accessible to the public," she said.

Terry Hansen, clerk-recorder for Yuba County, said the public isn't crowding into the offices at 915 8th St. in Marysville to look at such records.

A couple of people might come over a week during the peak election season, Hansen said.

"Usually it's just the other candidate," she said.

Campaign Contributions

To view who supported the local candidates, go online at:
www.appeal-democrat.com/sections/campaigns-database/

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appeal-democrat.com