With the advent of Rep. Rehberg (MT) posting his schedule to his official congressional Web site, Montana bloggers and newspapers have asked if Sen. Baucus would join his fellow lawmakers and post his schedule, as well. Lawmakers who agree to share their schedule show that they’re responsive, open, transparent and above all accountable to their constituents. When citizens can find out who has the ears of their lawmakers they can fairly determine if those lawmakers are making fair decisions. The information is vital to a strong democracy because it allows, for the first time, a voter to engage in the daily life of their elected official. The Montana Standard agrees -- on Sunday they printed an editorial making the point that
With just three people representing the fourth largest state in the country, our congressional delegation already faces a great challenge in trying to stay in touch with Montanans, and this one relatively easy way to keep people in the loop.Given the distance between Washington DC and Montana it could be frustrating to a Montanan to feel connected to their representative. But, with a schedule, people know that members of Congress are, in fact, meeting with people in the district and keeping those needs in mind daily. Bloggers are also asking, Don Pogreba’s blog Intelligent Discontent
It's time for Senator Max Baucus to do the right thing. Following the lead of Senator Tester and Representative Rehberg, it's time for Max to start telling Montana voters how he spends his days in Washington.and Jay Steven’s Left in the West "So you know what this means! Max Baucus is the only Montana federal-level representative hiding his business behind a cloud."
The value of a daily available schedule is not lost and constituents actually see the value and want to see all their Representatives do the right thing. We have seen the power that Montana Bloggers have in demanding accountability from their elected officials, and I am confident that Sen. Baucus will do the right thing by his constituents. There’s hope he’s already considering it. Today, the Billings Gazette published an editorial citing, Sen. Baucus’ spokesperson, Barrett Kaiser stating “…said last week that the senator is considering posting his schedule.”
Continue readingRep. Dennis Rehberg Punches In!
Rep. Dennis Rehberg is the 7th Member of Congress (and the second from Montana) to put a daily schedule online. Montana freshman, Sen. Jon Tester, made a campaign promise to post his schedule and he has been posting it since the beginning of his term. The existence of Tester’s schedule prompted the Helena Independent Record to ask Rep. Rehberg and Sen. Baucus if they were thinking of posting one also. Rehberg’s spokesman said his schedule was available to anyone who called his office and asked but when bloggers decided to take him up on that offer they found out that his schedule was available only if you were in Washington (more responses here). Later, an article in the Missoula Independent quoted Rep. Rehberg’s chief of staff saying that when the website was redesigned Mr. Rehberg’s schedule will be posted daily.
Continue readingMashup of the Day
With one week left till the close of our Congressional Mashup Contest we are excited to report that Steve Nelson's Second Life entry has made "Mashup of the Day" at Programmable Web. If you recall we introduced this exciting Mashup before here. Seeing Congressional information take center stage on this cutting edge website really shows how people get excited about new ways to view Congress.
Continue readingAnother Daily Schedule–Congressional Web Site Survey Update
Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida, a freshman, publishes a daily schedule--that brings the total number of members who do so to six. Here's a sample from Castor's schedule:
Wednesday, March 28
8:30 am - Event, National Democratic Club
9:30 am - Manage Rule for Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2007 (Click here to see the video) Continue reading
Another Earmark List–Congressional Web Site Study Update
Add Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas to the list of members who publish information on their earmark requests. That brings the grand total to six, which isn't exactly overwhelming. Brady's list is here; he also says this about earmarks:
Sometimes, when out-of-touch bureaucrats think they know better than local communities, the only recourse left is to direct the federal government to act. Unfortunately, these “earmarks” have exploded in number and cost over the years. Some are snuck into bills without public scrutiny, others are plain outrageous to taxpayers, especially with America’s large budget deficit. Continue reading
Congressional Web Site Study Update
Some updates, new information, refinements, and so on in the congressional Web site investigation. Dale Neubarger, the chief of staff to Rep. Darrel Issa, emails this link to Issa's 2008 earmark requests; I'll do a separate post on it later, but that's good news. We also heard from Matt Dinkel, the press secretary of Rep. Mike Doyle, who sent us a link to a page which links to the committees on which Doyle serves--that moves Doyle up to a passing score. I think this was a fairly common problem--when members identified or linked to their committee assignments in their bios, they were missed. I'm currently re-reviewing those questions, and finding that particularly when members name their committees in the text of lengthy bios but don't link them, our citizen journalists missed them.
Continue readingCongressional Web Site Study: Correction
We just re-ran some of the numbers for the congressional Web site survey, in particular the number of members whose sites scored 40 points or more. The good news is that the results were better than we initially reported--162 member Web sites had a passing grade, which means that they provided, at a minimum, basic information on the member's official duties in Congress, from the bills they sponsor to the committees they serve on to electronic contact information (an email or Web-based form) which the public can use to write them. That's much better than the number we originally reported, which was that 499 member sites failed to do that--it's actually 374 that fall short on our survey. That number is high, of course, but much better than 499, which of course is good news--the purpose of this exercise was to evaluate the extent to which congressional Web sites functioned as tools for transparency. When it comes to questions of what members do in their official capacity in Washington, it appears that about 30 percent have the answers online.
Continue readingRep. Goodlatte Moves into Passing Territory
Just had a call from Rep. Bob Goodlatte's office--he does provide two of the items we asked about (bills he's sponsored or co-sponsored, and his statements from the Congressional Record (which aren't all in one place--here's one from the same page as the text of the first bill he sponsored this session). I've adjusted his score--Goodlatte now gets a passing grade of 40.
Continue readingRep. Issa Provides a List of Earmarks
Add Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to the list of members who publish lists of earmarks (Issa's for 2006 is here). His chief of staff, Dale Neugebauer, emailed this a little while ago:
In your rating of Rep. Issa's web site you noted that our site did not include a list of earmark requests. Rep. Issa did publicly release the list of 2006 earmark requests and posted the press release on that section of our website. Here's the link... Continue reading
Citizen Journalists Find Majority of Congressional Web Sites are not Tools for Transparency
Rep. John T. Doolittle, R-Calif., Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and three other members post their daily schedules--including who they're meeting with--on their official, taxpayer-supported Web sites. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, both offer lists of the earmarks they've requested. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., posts information on his interventions with government regulatory agencies. Meanwhile, 374 congressional Web sites failed to provide basic information on what the member does in Washington, from providing the name or names of committees served on to the bills they sponsor, citizen journalists found.
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