Ariz Republic

E-mail blizzards leave Congress snowed in, resources missing to dig out

July 25, 2001

This started as a simple job: Fix the errors in the Editorial Page's standard listing of e-mail addresses for Arizona's congressional delegation.

But the results were startling.

E-mail, it turns out, is the worst way to contact our members of Congress.

An electronic blizzard is burying Capitol Hill. The number of e-mail messages was low - a few dozen a week for the average representative - until late 1998. The volume took off with the presidential impeachment process, and it hasn't stopped. Last December, when the presidential election recount was a hot issue, the House received a staggering 7 million messages.

Only a few congressional offices have the strategy, technology and resources to dig out, according to a study funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Many, including most of Arizona's delegation, won't reply via e-mail out of misguided fears for security. Instead, they send snail mail, eating up staff time and irritating constituents waiting for a quick response.

To filter out correspondents who don't live in their districts, more lawmakers are insisting that e-writers go through their Web site or a congressional service, which requires including a ZIP code and address.

Free, easy and quick, e-mail should be opening up American democracy, not shutting it down.

That won't happen without changes on both sides, receiving and sending.

Members of Congress need to adopt automated systems for such tasks as separating messages from constituents, weeding out mass mailings, sorting e-mail by topic and sending form responses as appropriate. Providing information on Web pages, especially about hot issues, will head off simple requests for information and updates.

The public must recognize that the most effective communication is an individual, well-focused message to one's own member of Congress. Grass-roots organizations should stop urging their members to blanket Congress with identical messages, under the mistaken notion that sheer volume counts.

The other option is to ignore technology. Rep. Bob Stump is an electronic holdout, with no e-mail connection. He goes through all his letters himself and responds personally.

That's a folksy approach. It would work fine if the halls of Congress still had spittoons and gaslights, instead of computers and modems.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001