PUBLIC TO SEE ON-LINE CAMPAIGN REPORTS IN 1998

Missourians could keep tabs on candidates' campaign finances from their home computers within a few years.

State law calls for on-line financial disclosure to be in place by the 1998 election cycle.

But the House recently voted to give the state until 2000, if necessary, to get the system up and running.

The Missouri Ethics Commission staff has recommended the state buy a $285,000 software package that will allow candidates to file campaign finance reports electronically and put the reports instantly on the Internet.

Anyone with a computer could search through a candidate's contributions.

Candidates could file their reports by computer modem or disk, or they could continue to file paper reports with the ethics commission.

The commission staff would have to type the paper reports into the computer system.

Southeast Missouri lawmakers said putting campaign finance reports on-line should make it easier for voters to know where the money is coming from.

But state Reps. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, and Joe Heckemeyer, D-Sikeston, warned that the system won't help the public track soft-money spending by political parties, labor unions and other groups on behalf of various candidates.

"I think voters have a right to know who is financing these campaigns," Thomason said.