You can ask to see one of these records at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. A clerk will look it up and sell you a printout for less than a dollar.
Now, because this information is computerized, it should be easy to search. We could find out which powerful individuals sit on more than one board, which elected officials have business interests and which companies are owned locally and which aren't, for example.
It should be easy. But, in these days of PCs, floppy disks, cartridge tapes and CD ROMs, business registration data is available only on old-fashioned 9-track tape - five reels of it!
In 1994, the Star-Bulletin asked for a copy. DCCA told us the Office of Information Practices would have to rule if they had to make us one. I think they expected us to give up.
After we persisted, we were told we had to pay for not just the tapes, but for a consultant to program the computer to produce the tapes. It cost us $5,000.
For $30 you can buy a CD with the name, address and phone number of 80 million Americans, but to find out on which boards the governor sits be prepared to write a big check.
