Capitol Hill Near-At-Hand Via E-Mail Congressional Delegations Are In Cyberspace

Thomas Jefferson manages a wry smile in his new role as an image on the World Wide Web.

Born far too early to enjoy the wealth of political information on the Internet, Jefferson nonetheless graces THOMAS, an electronic site created by the Library of Congress that provides a gateway to information about the House of Representatives, the Senate, the White House and many federal agencies.

Jefferson’s eye follows the mouse arrow enviously from the top left corner of the computer screen.

A few clicks later, a blue-shirted Sen. Dirk Kempthorne comes into view on the Idaho Republican’s own computer home page.

By pointing and clicking, Idahoans can read a biography of the senator, check out his bill to revise the Endangered Species Act, order a flag or find out where Kempthorne’s nearest Idaho office is.

There’s also an e-mail address for those who wish to heap scorn or praise upon the first-term Republican.

The Washington and Idaho congressional delegations have rushed into cyberspace in the past two years.

The states’ four senators have sites on the World Wide Web, and every Northwest politician has an e-mail address enabling constituents to contact Capitol Hill.

When Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., enters her office each morning, the first thing she does is check her e-mail.

“I get everything from White House ticket requests to problems with veterans’ checks to somebody asking me not to let the Mariners leave Seattle,” Murray said recently.

She receives 100 to 200 electronic letters a day. Those messages give her a sense of her constituents’ mood the previous night, said press secretary Rex Carney. Postal mail is a reflection of their thoughts a week or two ago.

Some topics arouse more interest than others, members of Congress have discovered. More than 10,000 e-mail messages flooded computers in the office of Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., in December. He serves on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which was debating a proposal to ban “indecent’ material on the Internet.

“The e-mail system slowed right down and some of the inter-office e-mails even were delayed a few days,” said Heidi Kelly, Gorton’s press secretary.

The increasing volume of e-mail suggests there are limits to its effectiveness. Constituents often get an automatic message on their screens acknowledging receipt of the e-mail, but have to wait a few weeks for a more detailed reply by paper mail.

House members aren’t allowed to respond by e-mail because of concerns about the security of the congressional computer system. Senators can send electronic e-mail, but many find it easier to handle the load mostly by traditional postage.

“It’s getting harder and harder to reply by e-mail the more people are finding out about it,” said Bryan Wilkes, press secretary to Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

Craig gets an average of 350-400 e-mail messages a week. He only replies to some electronically.

Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., generates an electronic mailbag of about 100 messages a week. His seat on the important House Appropriations Committee increases the load - many of the correspondents want to sound off about federal finances.

Congressional office staff handle incoming e-mail and, in most cases, have themselves created their bosses’ computer sites. Although the Senate telecommunications department set up Gorton’s Web page, Kelly said Gorton staffers will redesign the page and add more information this month.

The entire Washington state GOP delegation has a Balanced Budget World Wide Web site. Aaron Weissman, the systems administrator and a legislative aide to Rep. Rick White spent a couple of hours a day for about a week setting up the page last November.

Constituents can try their hands at balancing the federal budget themselves. This is one of the more popular exercises on a page that attracted more than 3,500 users in less than three months.

The site also includes a digital meter that shows the national debt increasing by about $10,000 per second.

That’s probably enough to make Jefferson turn over in his grave.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GOVERNMENT ON THE INTERNET THOMAS, a World Wide Web site created by the Library of Congress, is a good starting point for information on Congress and the federal government. Its Internet address is http://thomas.loc.gov.

Here are e-mail addresses and World Wide Web sites for members of Congress who represent the Inland Northwest:

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig. E-mail larrycraig@craig.senate.gov; Web http://www.senate.gov/(tilde)craig Sen. Dirk Kempthorne. E-mail dirkkempthorne@kempthorne.senate.gov; Web http://www.senate.gov/(tilde)kempthorne Rep. Helen Chenoweth. E-mail askhelen@hr.house.gov; her staff is creating a Web site.

Washington Sen. Slade Gorton. E-mail senatorgorton@gorton.senate.gov; Web http://www.senate.gov/senator/gorton.html. Sen. Patty Murray. E-mail senatormurray@murray.senate.gov; Web http://www.senate.gov/(tilde)murray Rep. George Nethercutt. E-mail grnwa05@hr.house.gov; no Web site yet. The Washington state GOP delegation also has the Balanced Budget World Wide Web site, at http://www.house.gov/white/budget/budget.html