Lines of communication to Legislature open

HELENA - When Rep. Tim Dowell, D-Kalispell, first served in the Legislature in 1991, there piles of paper phone messages and a total of two computers for House members to use.

How things have changed, especially since the Capitol was wired for expansive Internet and e-mail access.

"If you wait two or three days to check your e-mail, you are going to get buried," Dowell said. "Usually, contacts build up during the most contentious issues."

And the contacts aren't necessarily coming from lobbyists and public officials. They are coming from business owners and regular citizens.

"I hadn't been to my e-mail account for three days," Rep. Dee Brown, R-Hungry Horse, said one day last week. "When I checked it out today, I had 352 messages."

Admittedly, a lot of the mail is junk, but Brown said it seems she is getting more mail from constituents or Montanans who live outside her district. She and Dowell say they make it a policy to rapidly respond to those people.

"The Internet has opened up communication with legislators probably 500-fold," Brown said.

In the last few years, the volume of correspondence with lawmakers has increased substantially.

According to the Montana Legislative Services Division, there were 21,849 telephone messages fielded by the capitol information office during the 2003 session, compared to 17,654 in the 2001 session.

The number of e-mail messages routed through the Capitol nearly doubled during the same period, from 32,187 to 58,710.

The session has become more accessible in other ways.

The Legislature's Internet site (http://leg.state.mt.us) offers huge amounts of information: reports, schedules, a search engine for finding bills, committee assignments and contact information for staffers and individual legislators.

The Legislature has become increasingly visible on television as well. There were 1,200 hours of House and Senate floor sessions broadcast on cable television in 2003, compared to just 244 hours during the 2001 session.

"The doors are opened wide," said Dowell, who contends that the public has become more engaged precisely because of more easily accessible information on legislative matters.

"I see people from Kalispell here almost on a daily basis," Dowell said. "Not just county commissioners and mayors, but lots of citizens."

Dowell said it seems that more average citizens are chiming in with their views on various matters either by contacting legislators or showing up for hearings.

"And I think it's been a real positive change," Dowell said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com