Not All Congressional Web Sites are Created Equal
WEB SITES (with sidebar)
Keene Sentinel
Kenna Caprio
Boston University Washington News Service
March 27, 2008
WASHINGTON – As more Americans go online and become tech savvy, they are turning to congressional Web sites for information about their representatives and senators in Washington and how to contact them.
But not all congressional Web sites are created equal, it seems.
Having a Web site is “a good first step when people are just generally trying to figure out how to contact their congressman and find out what he stands for and what he’s working on in Washington,” said Mark Bergman, the communications director for Rep. Paul W. Hodes, D-N.H.
But according to studies by the Congressional Management Foundation, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that provides administrative direction to congressional offices, and an informal review of House and Senate Web sites by Politico, a Washington-based political publication, not every site is worth bragging about.
The foundation last year reviewed all 618 House, Senate, committee and leadership Web sites and gave them grades.
Tim Hysom, the foundation’s director of technology and communications services, was the project manager and a contributing writer for the 2007 Gold Mouse Report.
“The most common letter grade was a D. The good Web sites are getting better and the bad Web sites are either getting worse or staying stagnant…. Those winning awards are looking at congressional Web sites as an additional satellite office,” Hysom said.
Hodes and Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and John Sununu, R-N.H., all tended to the middle of the road. The foundation did not present them with a gold, silver or bronze Mouse Award as one of the best, but neither did Politico single them out for Lead Mouse Awards for needing work.
“It has to provide users with an ability to find out what the congressman is working on, what he stands for and how to get in touch with the office,” Bergman said. “Obviously the Internet is a tool to reach out to constituents as well as to have constituents to come back and reach out to the office. It’s a focal point for the congressman.”
Alan Rosenblatt, associate director of online advocacy for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which describes itself as “a progressive think tank,” cited four main things constituents look for.
“Number one, they probably want to contact them. Number two, they want to keep tabs on what they’re doing. Number three, some kind of constituent service beyond the issues. Number four, where they stand on issues,” he said.
Rosenblatt looked over Sen. Gregg’s and Sen. Sununu’s Web sites.
“Sununu’s Web site is terrible, but what it has that Gregg’s does not have is issue positions,” he said. “To learn how he’s voted, a link to Thomas [the Library of Congress’s official source of legislative information and votes], but it doesn’t go to his page; it just goes to search. It’s like, ‘Here’s where you can find it but I’m not going to help you.’ Doesn’t seem to talk to his philosophy…really focused on legislative and specifics without necessarily getting into the approach.”
Sununu’s Web site, said Barbara Riley, his communications director, “is one of a number of key communications tools he utilizes to provide New Hampshire residents with the best constituent service possible.”
Dennis W. Johnson, professor of political management at George Washington University who was part of the team that came up the idea of the foundation’s awards and helped conduct focus groups, said accountability is the most important thing people look for in congressional Web sites.
Constituents want to see how their members of Congress voted and they want to see what they’re doing all day, Johnson said.
“They want to see their schedules,” he said. “A lot of citizens out there are irritated with Congress. And they want accountability, they want to know where their taxpayer dollars are going.”
To track how congressional Web sites measure up, the foundation designated six “elements of a quality congressional Web site”: design and layout, legislative content, constituent services, press resources, state and/or district information and communication tools.
“To get an award you’d really have to do quite well in all the areas we’re looking at,” the foundation’s Hysom said.
The foundation also provides a personalized 12-page memorandum to each congressional office on what they are and are not doing well.
“We’re in the process of actually revamping our Web site and should be able to launch by April,” Bergman said of Hodes’ site. “Things that have been pointed out in this report are obviously going to factor into the redesign of the Web site.”
Still, some congressional offices that did not win a Mouse Award or were mentioned in the Politico Lead Mouse Award article are not updating or changing their Web sites.
“The unique thing is that each member of Congress is responsible for their own Web site,” Johnson said. “In state legislatures…they use a template…. but Congress is different; they can have no Web site or the fanciest one you ever saw. It’s completely up to the member of Congress.”
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Wilson sidebar with web sites
A Keene native who now represents a New Mexico constituency has won a silver Mouse Award for her House Web site from the nonpartisan Congressional Management Foundation.
The Web site of Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., won the silver award for its constituent services section.
The foundation, which regularly reviews every congressional Web site, said in its report for 2007 that Wilson’s Help With Federal Agencies section “highlights real casework problems and solutions and gives users a sense of the work the congresswoman’s office can do for constituents.”
According to Enrique Carlos Knell, Wilson’s communications director, two people on the communications staff manage the Web site, and the office also trains interns to help with routine maintenance on the site. The office also works with a vendor, DoveTech Solutions.
In 2002 Wilson’s office won a silver mouse award and in 2003 a bronze. During the time when the 2006 awards were being given out Rep. Wilson’s Web site was undergoing major renovations, according to Knell.
“It certainly means that we’re doing something right, and this organization really knows what goes into [a Web site],” he said. “It’s an honor that they’ve recognized her over so many years.”
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