The Collin County Observer

The Collin County Observer is committed to providing voters the information they need to make informed choices in the 2010 Primary Election. We believe an informed voter will make better choices -- and to be informed, the voter should know who is contributing money to their candidates.

While Federal and State campaign finance reports are online, a voter had to drive to the county's election office to see the local reports. In order to make these local reports available online, the Observer made Open Records requests to the county elections office.

The Collin County Observer has now posted online the "8 Day" or "Telegraph" campaign finance report required of all local candidates who face an opposed primary race.

This report details contributions and expenditures from February 1, 2010 to February 22, 2010, and is the last of 3 reports filed before the primary.

The reports, along with the "January Semi-Annual" report (details from July 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009), and the "30 Day Report" (January 1, 2010 to January 27) are linked here.

The Collin County Observer is only publishing the reports from "local, county filers".

There are four kind of campaign finance filers. Only "County" filers form C/OH are posted by the Observer:

1. Federal - Officeholders and candidates for Congress and the Presidency file with the Federal Elections Commission. The reports are publicly available through an on-line database here.

2. State - Texas state filers include candidates for Governor, Texas State offices, Legislator, State Senate, all Appeals Courts, District Judge, and County Party Chair. These office holders and candidates file with the Texas Ethics Commission. The reports are publicly available through an on-line database here.

3. County - County officials and candidates file with the Collin County Elections Department. County filers include: County Judge, County Commissioner, District Clerk, District Attorney, County Court at Law justices, Justices of the Peace and constables.

   The Collin County Elections Department has told the Observer that it is their goal to post all campaign finance reports on-line, but they do not have a real time frame (budget) approved to do so. It is these local county reports that the Collin County Observer has posted.

4. Local - Office holders and candidates for local offices file with their respective local authority. School Board candidates file with their ISD, City Council candidates file with their city, etc. Most local filings, except in large cities, are not on-line and can only be obtained by request from the filing authority.

Personal Financial Statements for State filers are kept at the Texas Ethics Commission, but are not on-line. They can only be accessed by requesting them with an Open Records request. A copy fee is assessed for each request.

County PFS reports are kept by the Collin County Clerk, and are available by request in a personal appearance. The Observer will be requesting all local form PFS and will make them available on-line.

While campaign finance reports are kept for several years, Personal Financial Statements are destroyed annually.

The Observer tips its hat to and thanks Sharon Rowe, the Collin County Elections Administrator, and Elections Department staffer Sandy Braswell for their cooperation and assistance in helping gather all the reports as electronic files.

Bill