The Secretary of State's Office has posted candidates' newly filed campaign finance information online.

Finding that information, however, is a bit like going on a treasure hunt — without the map.

For example, a search for records of state Rep. Peter Wirth, a Santa Fe Democrat, by clicking the link to "campaign finance reporting" at the top left of the agency's Web page produces no results.

A search using another similar link, called "candidate or PAC receiving contributions" on the bottom right hand side of the home page, however, returns records for Wirth. But that's only if you chose reports for "all years" instead of choosing the year 2008.

A reporter was able to find Wirth's report only with the help of the office spokesman, James Flores.

Wirth said it was news to him his report was online — because he hadn't been able to find it there. "I'm glad it's there," he said, "but if people can't figure it out, then that's not good."

He suggested the secretary of state make it more obvious where users should click for the information. "If it's a different link," he said, "what they should do is reference that. But it still doesn't make sense."

The difficulty finding Wirth's information wasn't the only challenge Thursday.

Several searches for candidates resulted in "Run Time Error" messages. And a search for candidates for the state Public Regulation Commission only allows a user to select District 1 — although there also are candidates running in District 3.

Adam Feldman, executive director of the state Republican Party, said he also had trouble using the site.

He searched for a candidate using the last name Campos for the year 2008 and got Paul Campos, a Democrat running for the Public Regulation Commission.

Feldman pointed out, however, that two other politicians with the same last name — state Rep. Joe Campos and state Sen. Pete Campos, who both face re-election this year — should have turned up in the search.

"There's an election next week. Citizens need to know who is funding these campaigns," he said. "It's incumbent on the secretary of state to make this information available."

Troubles with the system — started under former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron — aren't new. In fact, Vigil-Giron's office in late 2006 said publicly that the company hired for the database wasn't living up to its contract.

The state at that time had a contract with Office Automation Systems, a company since taken over by Elections Systems and Software.

The problems at the time weren't bad enough, however, for Vigil-Giron to move to end the contract or ask for the state's money back, she said Thursday.

"I will tell you it was a disappointment they weren't able to fulfill that part of the contract," she said. "I think I left before anything was done with the contract or the project."

Other problems — and more criticism — surfaced earlier this month, when the Secretary of State's Office said it wouldn't be able to post May 12 reports online until last Monday. At the time, candidates complained about difficulties getting their campaign finance information filed and said the system was almost impossible to use.

The office said it couldn't get all the reports posted on its Web site for two weeks — including those filed electronically — because the system is slow and many candidates filed on paper. Under state law, candidates must file online unless they are granted a hardship waiver, mostly for candidates without easy access to a computer or to the Internet.

And some candidates who filed electronically said it was a challenge. "This is just not an intuitive layout. It's cumbersome and time consuming," Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, an Albuquerque Republican, said of the program candidates use to upload their information.

Flores said his office next year will ask for a new system — something estimated to cost between $800,000 and $1 million.

"We're looking at getting a different system," he said. "If we were happy with it, we wouldn't be looking to get a different system."

Amanda Brown, spokeswoman for Elections Systems and Software, which has a contract with the state for the database, said the company is committed to solving any problems with the program. "If there are any issues that arise, we'll support them in addressing and working through them," she said.

While her company administers the database, she said, it's up to the state to input the data.

The state since 2006 has had a contract with Office Automation Solutions for its campaign finance database. Elections Systems and Software is the parent company of OAS, which is now a company called File 1.

Secretary of state documents show 87 "deliverables" related to the finance reporting system between May 2006 and March 2007, for a cost of $353,293.

Among the goals of the contract, according to documents, "the web search functionality will allow the public to easily view all filed reports and search the filing database for specific campaign contributions. This is something public interest groups have been requesting for years."

The California Voter Foundation in 2007 gave New Mexico an F for its campaign finance disclosure laws and in particular criticized the secretary of state's Web site.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.sfnewmexican.com.