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Torn From The Front Page: Government bloggers update their constituents on the spot
By The Saginaw News staff
October 01, 2009, 5:41AM

Communication is more than a two-way street these days — with all our electronic, wireless, mobile and other options, it’s more like the traffic circle at Piccadilly Circus.

But successful transmission of information, ideas and opinions still depend on the willingness and effort put into the exchange by the parties on either end.

That’s what is so encouraging about the recent efforts to expand communication by two Saginaw-area public servants.

State Rep. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, started on online blog to chronicle the making of the budget sausage at our state Capitol.

And Ron Lee, manager of Saginaw Township, has inaugurated a blog of his own to share information and his viewpoints with township residents.

For the uninitiated, “blog” is short for Web log; in short, it’s an online journal in which the proprietor can inform, entertain, share his or her philosophy and, if they choose, invite interaction from their visitors.

At best, they give insight into the motivations of the author and others, broadening our understanding of issues that normally might be beyond our grasp. Here are some excellent examples from Horn’s blog, at www.repkenhorn.blogspot.com, earlier this week:

“Human Services Budget: Voting again! This is one of the big ones. 29% cut, which is taking a lot of heat off of the K-12 education budget at 3% cut. You should know that nobody in the Capitol building is very happy about these cuts. Not that I can see anyways. This is tough, and we’re all thinking that it isn’t going to get any easier with next year’s budget.”

And: “Let’s get this show on the road, already!: Oh… good Heavens!!! Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle just called a caucus for the third time today. It’s almost 9 p.m., and we’ve had no more than three votes. Four, if you count the two times we voted on the Corrections budget.”

And: “Corrections Budget: Voting on the Corrections budget now. There are cuts in the budget, but one of the problems with this budget is that any early paroles that violate their conditions of parole, go into our jails and we’re cutting revenue sharing for Counties. Double whammy for local units of government.”

These real-time updates, perspectives and opinions are the kind of information that in the recent past would not have been available to average citizens, even those who went out of their way to keep informed.

And the beauty of the tool is that it invites and allows immediate interaction.

If you turn it on, that is. Horn’s blog allows visitors to sign on as members, or “followers,” allowing them to receive updates when he posts new items or to leave comments for the representative while he’s in the thick of the budget battle.

Over in Saginaw Township, Lee is taking a slower approach. His online foray is to blogs what the Frisbee is to flying machines: Simple, direct and headed in one direction — right at the reader.

Lee makes it clear that he is sharing “facts,” not looking for a debate.

That’s fine from the standpoint of broadening understanding of government, although it goes against the “wiki” ethic of the Web — that is, that our understanding of issues grows when everyone chips in a little bit of knowledge.

It’s all good, though. At least he’s reaching out, in a format that more and more people every day are using as a tool to navigate their busy lives.

The machinery of government may not have changed much over the ages, as Horn’s blow-by-blow blog illustrates. But by embracing new technologies, our elected leaders are wise to open the democratic process up to the greater public in ways never before possible.