I once did campaign finance data entry as a child laborer for a newspaper reporter. I entered all the contribution reports for all the the state house and sena

I once did campaign finance data entry as a child laborer for a newspaper reporter. I entered all the contribution reports for all the the state house and senate races. It was crates upon boxes of public-record paper documents. According to the reporter, I probably only made one mistake in the dollar amounts, due to a single missing contribution report. Not bad for a kid. But it took forever, and it was relatively expensive for the newspaper. This was way back in the early 1990s. Since then, paper filings tapered off, and electronic filings replaced them. It really is a far better way to do it. Clearly, these records need to be digitized to create public transparency, and that need is apparently being met by bottom-feeding tax-eaters doing a minimum-effort job at a top-shelf price. I am not surprised these records are being botched, but I am surprised this story is coming out only now, rather than back in 2001.