All But One Spokane Legislator Online E-Mail Is Easy, But Maybe Not Most Effective Communication

Cyber citizens usually can save themselves a stamp or the cost of a long-distance phone call by sending their legislators e-mail.

But if you’re not in a particular legislator’s district, don’t expect your e-mail to carry much weight.

A listing of Senate e-mail addresses on the Legislature’s Web site asks writers to include a name and address for a reply, and notes “most legislative offices have adequate staff to respond only to their constituents.”

Remember, getting rid of unwanted e-mail takes only the click of a button - even less energy than it takes to wad up a letter and toss it in the trash can.

All but one of the Spokane-area legislators now use e-mail. A spokeswoman for Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient, said that office “just is not really wanting to do that, it gets cluttered with stuff that’s just a waste of time.”

All legislative e-mail addresses follow a pattern using up to eight letters of the last name and the first two letters of the first name, plus a common domain. Here are the e-mail addresses for the other Spokane-area legislators:

3rd District: Sen. Lisa Brown, brown-li@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Jeff Gombosky, gombosky- je@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Alex Wood, wood-al@leg.wa.gov.

4th District: Sen. Bob McCaslin, mccaslin-bo@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Larry Crouse, crouse- la@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Mark Sterk, sterk-ma@leg.wa.gov.

6th District: Sen. Jim West, west- ji@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Brad Benson, benson-br@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Duane Sommers, sommers- du@leg.wa.gov.

7th District: Rep. Cathy McMorris, mcmorris-ca@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Bob Sump, sump-bo@leg.wa.gov.

9th District: Sen. Gene Prince, prince-eu@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Mark Schoesler, schoesle- ma@leg.wa.gov; Rep. Larry Sheahan, sheahan-la@leg.wa.gov.

, DataTimes