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Flowery speeches about the public's right to know notwithstanding, most members
of Congress are guided by the age-old political rule: "What the voters don't know
can't hurt you on Election Day." If voters could pull up easy-to-read details
on their computer screens about every vote a senator or a representative makes
during a term, there might be some surprised voters and a lot of red-faced members
of Congress in need of quick explanations.
This past summer, two members of my staff - Noel Dingboom and Mark Wittink
- worked with congressional interns in a survey of Senate and House offices to
determine attitudes about the posting of voting records in a searchable format
on the Internet. The answers were disappointing, with most members falling back
on claims that votes were available on other Internet sites including those managed
by various private organizations.
Some of the explanations for the failure of members to post their own records
seemed to translate into something akin to "the constituents are too dumb to understand"
an unvarnished straightforward rendition of a congressional voting record.
Reliance on private groups is tricky, at best. Most compile voting records
in a manner to support their own policy positions. Others are selective about
the issues and votes they list. And members of Congress have a long history of
attempting to discredit as biased any group that publishes a voting record that
makes their record look bad.
It is true, as many offices cited, that the Library of Congress, through a
service dubbed "Thomas," carries votes in conjunction with its Internet tracking
of activity on the floor of the House and Senate. The process of extracting votes
of individual members from "Thomas" is too cumbersome and time-consuming to be
practical for most citizens. The same is true for the Congressional Record printed
by the Government Printing Office.
Unfortunately, sometimes Congress is able to rig the parliamentary procedures
so that some items can slip through without a vote. One of these was a $4,900
raise for all members that was allowed to go into effect earlier this month without
a vote.
It is little wonder that frequently fewer than 40 percent of the eligible
voters turn out in biennial elections to select their senators and representatives.
And millions of those who do arrive at the polls have only the most surface information
about what their sitting senator or representative has been doing in Washington.
Incumbents like to keep it that way.
Information is the oxygen of democracy. It is also the basic ingredient that
builds and maintains confidence and accountability in government. At a minimum,
citizens have a right to know in detail the positions their representatives take
on legislation. Congress should adopt a rule that would require that all members
list their voting records on the Internet in an easily accessed, searchable format
by member name, bill subject and title.
This would be a giant step forward in efforts to ensure an informed electorate
- and a more accountable Congress. Citizens should contact their senators and
representatives and ask why this isn't being done. They can be reached through
the Capitol switchboard - 202-224-3121 for senators; 202-225-3121 for representatives.
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate and former presidential candidate based
in Washington. This article was distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
Copyright 2001, Hartford Courant
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