The June 28 Political Notebook describes how, for over a week, Secretary of State Al Jaeger's Web site was spewing spurious information about the campaign disclosure records he is required by law to compile and accurately make available to the public.
Computer glitches happen, so no one expects 100 percent perfection, but when serious and obvious errors of the magnitude the column described are allowed to continue for a week or more, then I would say somebody isn't minding the store.
Isn't someone at the secretary of state's office looking at this site regularly to confirm its proper functioning? Apparently not. Even after the problem was pointed out, the secretary of state's office says it may take a month or more to get it fixed. So fixing the glitch isn't much of a priority, either, I guess.
The story deserved more coverage that it got from The Forum. The secretary of state is a serious job. Public records - especially campaign funding disclosure forms in an election year - should be readily and accurately available. The law simply requires it. Common sense confirms it, given the problems we have had with campaign funding in North Dakota like Gov. John Hoeven's inappropriate fund-raiser on the Burlington Northern train car and the forged documents his campaign used to try and cover it up.
I hope your paper will look closer at the stewardship of the secretary of state. Such sloppiness laying around in plain view does not give one confidence in what is going on elsewhere in that office.
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Barbara A. Clark
West Fargo
