Congressional Web Sites Act As Conduits Between Members And Constituents
WASHINGTON, Feb. 06– Red, white and blue are the three primary colors on Congressman Barney Frank’s Web site. But there’s more to the site (www.house.gov/frank) than mere flag waving. On the left, a blue navigation bar flanks a page-long message from the Congressman; on the right is a photo of Mr. Frank on NBC’s Meet the Press. Links to recent speeches and press releases appear below Mr. Frank’s photo on the site’s home page.
“It’s my obligation to give [my constituents] information about what positions I am taking,” Mr. Frank said. “In fact· I will put my voting record on it. I don’t use it as a campaign tool. I put on the Web site illustrations of what I’m doing.”
Members of Congress have been slow to join the information age, but increasingly, they are using their Web sites to communicate directly with their constituents. Especially after last fall’s anthrax scare disrupted mail service to the Capitol, e-mail suddenly was no longer a luxury; it became one of the few lines of communication between congressman and constituent.
Senator Edward Kennedy agreed that the Internet improves the government’s connection to the people. “By searching government websites, citizens can access government services and find the information they need faster and more efficiently,” he said. “We should continue to take advantage of new technologies to achieve more responsive, informative and interactive government.”
Mr. Kennedy’s site is one of the few whose content is changed regularly. The site (www.senate.gov/~kennedy) has links to recent press releases, issue spotlights, streaming headlines, weather updates and the Web sites of Boston-area sports teams. Currently, the consumer can access streaming video of Mr. Kennedy’s recent speech at the National Press Club.
The Kennedy and Frank Web sites, however, were not singled out for awards of excellence, which may make them be typical of congressional sites, the bulk of which merit grades of “C” or lower, according to a study by the Congressional Management Foundation, sponsored by Pew Charitable Trusts. The study concluded that users “want congressional Web sites to be the conduits for congressional and legislative information, not the filters of it.”
No Web site of any member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, in fact, received the foundation’s gold or silver mouse wards when those prizes were presented in late January. Mr. Frank’s page, however, meets the foundation’s basic criteria: easy navigation, up-to-date legislative and issue content and information geared to the needs and desires of the consumer. Additionally, the site is user-friendly, and Mr. Frank said he has not received a complaint about its accessibility.
In the foundation’s study, 90 percent of all congressional-related sites, including those for member, committees and leadership offices, received average or below-average grades. Only 2.5 percent of 605 sites merited an “A.” But even that was a slight increase over the results in a similar study two years ago. In all, 35 Web sites were deemed worthy of recognition.
“Next year, we expect to see a dramatic improvement,” said Brad Fitch, the foundation’s deputy director. “In the last week, over a hundred offices have called us to discuss improving their sites. I think the Senators recognize the value [of a Web site]. To be honest, they’ve been busy with other things. But they recognize that this is a valuable tool to improve constituent services and to provide information to the public. We’re getting overwhelmingly positive responses from Congressmen.
“We’re going to develop new criteria for next year, and we may raise our standards a little bit. But because it’s a new technology, we may have given Congress a little slack this year. An innovation for Congress that may have [reached] the private sector in 1998 may only be hitting Capitol Hill now.”
Mr. Fitch said new criteria for assessing Web sites next year could include a closer look at innovations and interactivity. Mr. Frank, however, said he does not expect to change his site greatly in the coming year. “I don’t plan to increase interactivity, but I think I’m pretty accessible in person,” he said. “If any constituent wants to see me, they can call the office and schedule an appointment.”
Congressman James McGovern, on the other hand, intends to spruce up his Web page (www.house.gov/mcgovern). Press Secretary Michael Mershon said a re-launch of the site is likely within the year. “In terms of content, [the new site] will be similar,” he said. “We’re hoping to make the presentation a little more attractive and easier to use. We’re going to beef up content.”
Mr. Mershon acknowledged that some of the links posted on the page are updated more frequently than others. But “the statements that are up there related to Sept. 11 continue to be relevant,” he said.
Senator John Kerry’s site (www.senate.gov/~kerry) offers constituents easy access through a useful navigation bar, including links to recent news, legislative issues and constituent services. It is one of the more visually agreeable sites among members of the Massachusetts delegation.
Mr. Frank is accessible via e-mail; directly and through a link on his Web site. “I write many of the responses myself,” he said. “No text goes out without my seeing it or approving it.” Mr. Mershon said Mr. McGovern also writes or approves all responses to constituent e-mails.
For most of the fall last year, e-mail was one of the few available outlets to contact congressional members. “After the anthrax scare on Capitol Hill, our postal service mail was suspended for several months,” Mr. Mershon said. “We tried to encourage people to correspond to us via e-mail. Now that mail service has been resumed, we’re getting mail from October.”
Researchers acknowledge a danger for members with inadequate sites: non-profit and for-profit organizations will compete with Congress as the “sites of first choice for people interested in the activities of Congress,” the foundation’s recent report said. The report gave mediocre grades to sites that promoted the boss instead of providing “useful and unbiased information [that] citizens, reporters, and advocates are seeking.” In addition, most sites failed to update their content regularly. “Some of the most embarrassing mistakes the Congress Online Project Team saw were offices that had not updated their bill sponsorship links to point to information for the 107th Congress. Many offices still pointed to 106th Congress bill sponsorship information, and some still pointed to 104th and 105th Congress information,” the report said.
Mr. Fitch said the foundation’s role is not to frustrate or condemn Congress but to encourage its members to design more polished and efficient Web sites for the consumer.
Written for the New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
