CrackBerry Addicts vs Twittering Sunlighters on the Floor of Congress

Micah L. Sifry | June 11, 2008 - 10:13pm | 9 comments | | Email This!

Here's a tale of two radically different uses of technology on Capitol Hill: the first to keep all but the most-connected people out, and the second to let the rest of us in. In the first case, we have Members of Congress who are crack-berry addicts staying in permanent contact with their cronies and donors, even on the floor where lobbyists are supposedly banned. And in the second case, we have a Republican Congressman who is Twittering from what he calls the "deepest and darkest hole" in Congress.

Case one: Today's Politico has a fascinating story called "Are Members Blackberry addicts?" that describes how seven out of ten Members of Congress and staffers use the ubiquitous handheld devices to keep up with their email from the people they really want to stay connected with: donors and lobbyists. More than 8,000 of the devices are used by members and staff on the House side alone, a number that exploded after the GAO starting giving them out on the Hill after the 9/11 attacks.

As reporter Daniel Libit writes, "People who mull such things are beginning to ask whether Capitol Hill’s BlackBerry addiction ... is putting too much power into the hands of small groups of well-connected constituents, exacerbating partisan polarization and snuffing out whatever’s left of Washington’s political sanctuary removed from the parochial concerns back home."

Libit notes:

While average citizens still reach out to their elected representatives via letters or e-mails to a general inbox, donors and friends are more likely to have a member’s personal e-mail address — and with it, a virtual hotline to the member’s hip.

Great! Now lobbyists have an even more efficient way of whispering in Members ears, literally on the floor of Congress!

Other observers suggest to Libit that Blackberries may make some Members more attuned to the web in general, while the general thrust of Libit's piece is that it's just making them more distracted. Personally, I suspect Congress's Blackberry usage is probably doing little to improve the body's ability to think about or do anything long-term. A friend of mine once referred to measuring Congressional attention-spans in "Belto-seconds"; crack-berry usage can only make that worse.

What's not discussed in Libit's piece is the possibility that new technology could open up how Congress does its work, instead of just feeding Members' already hyper-insular work style. And that gets us to Case Two, a pioneer on the House floor who may just be showing the way, Rep. John Culberson of Texas who has, shockingly, been Twittering openly from floor proceedings and is even considering doing some live video-blogging to open up public awareness of what he calls "the darkest and deepest hole in Congress," the House floor.

For the last few days, @johnculberson has been engaged in a friendly dialogue with @stereogab, the communications director for the Sunlight Foundation, Gabriela Schneider. Sunlight's executive director Ellen Miller just posted about their exchanges. (Full disclosure: I am a tech advisor to Sunlight.) Here's a taste of Culberson's view from the hole:

Major bills like Farm Bill, Iraq War funding bill were written in total secrecy by a handful of people and then filed the night before floor vote w no comm hearing, and then floor amendments are either prohibited or limited…Why not create a Sunshine Index for every day the House is in session? For every bill - how much time between bill filing and floor debate? Was there a Comm hearing? Amendments allowed in comm or on floor? How many? How much debate time? How many pages long is the bill? How much money does it spend? This is where Democracy is being killed every day - on the floor.

As Ellen says, "It’s refreshing to see a member of Congress who personally tweets updates about his work as a legislator, often from the House Floor. We love that he talks specifically about bills being considered in real time so we know how he is going to vote on a pending bill and why." Ditto.

Culberson is also experimenting with live video-blogging, using a Nokia N95 and Qik.com. He's mulling taking us to the House floor with him, and showing us just how the sausage is made. I think that's a terrific idea (though it shouldn't be a substitute for real systemic transparency, like getting Congress to post bills online before they vote on them).

It's time to show @johnculberson some love, because if he dares to open a real technological window on Congress's inner workings, there will be a lot of people on the inside trying to patch the broken firewall that hides the people's business from the people. And a lot of us hoping that it stays down.

To contact Rep. Culberson, you can go through his official email contact page from his Congressional website. Or you can take the simpler path, and direct message him on Twitter.

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Me thinks the gentelman doth protest too much...

by justin@justinha... on June 16, 2008 - 8:48am
First you reply to all of the things I said by calling me a "thoughtful", "worthy" and "courteous opponent" and challenging me to a debate. Then, when I suggest you expand your debate offer to your opponent, Michael Skelly, as well as taking questions from the general public, you duck the question and call me rude, malicious and insulting. Do not duck the question, Congressman. Will you, or will you not debate your opponent in an open forum with input from the public? PS Tom Delay, the man you call "your leader", and a "courageous conservative" was one of the most corrupt members of Congress in the history of our Republic. You ought to show more care in who you decide to so loyally follow.
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Your logic is faulty

by justin@justinha... on June 12, 2008 - 6:08am
Micah, On one hand, you assume the worst when it is unwarranted, and on the other you assume the best when it is unfounded. Members of Congress do not use blackberry's primarily as some kind of "lobbyist bat-phone". They are a very important tool for keeping in touch with staff, family and colleagues, on votes, political matters and major issues breaking as these guys are running back and forth between their offices in DC and their home states; and, while at the Capitol, running between meetings, committee hearings an floor votes. And the idea of Culberson as the transparency posterboy of the white-hat groups is beyond ridiculous. He is the former errand boy of Tom "The Hammer" DeLay who shook down construction and concrete contractors for contributions in exchange for depriving an entire city of federal funding (our mutual hometown of Houston)for light rail, just so that he could pay off his construction buddies with some new freeway widening contracts. With all due respect, you guys are getting rooked by an ethically challenged member of Congress, who is in a serious re-election fight and is looking to distance himself from an image of Washington corruption he helped nurture. The Sunlight Foundation seal of approval is the last thing this guy deserves. Actions speak louder than words, as well as louder than whatever the new, shiny technology medium is.
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Show me the goods

by Micah L. Sifry on June 12, 2008 - 9:33am
Justin: I appreciate your chiming in on this. I would love to believe that every Member of Congress and every staffer is only working for the public good. But until Congress opens itself up, why shouldn't we assume the worst? Are Members using their blackberries to stay in touch with loved ones and colleagues? I'm sure they are. Are they also giving their personal email addresses to lobbyists, who are using that privileged access in all kinds of dubious ways? I'm sure they are. Considering that many lobbyists are former Congresscritters or staffers who already have each other's personal email addresses, and trade on their personal connections for huge financial gain (Dennis Hastert just got hired at $500K/year by a top K Street shop, to take the latest example), I don't think I'm assuming the worst. In this Internet Age, it's time we got real-time transparency from our public representatives. We pay your salaries, right? Can you tell me why I don't have a right to know which lobbyists you're meeting with, what they're lobbying you on, and what kinds of interventions you're making, either in legislative arenas or with regulatory agencies, on their behalf? The Congressman's work schedule is on his Blackberry; why not post it on the web a day after the fact? You get my drift. As for Culberson's ethics, well, that's definitely something we can all look into, can't we? I didn't say that a Member choosing to Twitter or shoot live video from the House floor suddenly gets a seal of approval on ethics. It is good to see Members experimenting with being more open and interactive, given that the technology makes it easy and the only thing stopping Members is their own old habits and archaic rules. Culberson is of course playing with a double-edged sword. If he wants to describe the House floor as the dark hole of Congressional corruption, let him prove it. And when he makes charges like that, he'll draw more attention as well to his own practices, ethical or not (as you have just done). Transparency is not a one-way street. Micah

No, you show us the facts

by justin@justinha... on June 12, 2008 - 6:57pm
Again, it's a logic problem here. You're presupposing the worst with out the use of hard, proven facts. You open your piece with a blanket statement that the blackberry is used as filter "to keep all but the most-connected people out". Where is the back up for that? When I pointed out, with insider knowledge, that your supposition was incorrect, your response was "why shouldn't we assume the worst?" It's not my job as a reader to disprove unfounded accusations and suppositions; it is a respectable journalist's (or citizen journalist's) job to prove them (to a reasonable degree) in the first place. That was simply not done in this case. I am as pro-transparency as you or anyone else. But raising the "tell me why I don't have a right to know which lobbyists you're meeting with" argument is a straw man that in no way justifies or backs up your initial, baseless statement. If you had said, "there have been some" or "we know of X case" that is a different story. But it is poor journalism to create a universal from an ill, or undefined instance. It's just not right to smear a lot of people (and that's what your statement did) because you feel like it's right. You need to show us the facts to back up the blanket accusation, or else narrow your focus down to that which you can prove. As far as Culberson is concerned, he's exactly the type of "Congresscritter" that people should be concerned with no matter what he twitters. Though, as a good friend told me today, if Culberson twittered what his errand lists from Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff were, then we'll have a reason to be impressed with his commitment to using technology to broaden transparency.
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I am trying to become a real time representative.

by johnculberson on June 13, 2008 - 12:26am
Justin I am sorry you are "presupposing the worst [about me] with out the use of hard, proven facts." You and I share two things I know for sure - we both appreciate technology and we both love Boston Terriers. Otherwise I know nothing about you and would not presuppose the worst about you - why not keep an open mind and wait to find out who in fact I am really am? Remember the less someone wants you to know about themselves or something the more they have to hide. Hastert occasionally, and Pelosi regularly, writes bills in total secrecy, and then files them a few hours before floor debate, prohibits or severely limits amendments, and limits debate. The deepest darkest hole in Washington is the House floor which is run by Pelosi et al like the Supreme Soviet. It is a total disgrace that the $165 billion bill paying for the War in Iraq and Afghanistan was written in total secrecy, given no public hearing or debate in the Appropriations Committee, and it was dropped directly onto the House floor less than 12 hours before a short debate with ALL amendments prohibited. The people and the people's representatives have never been shut out of writing or debating or amending a WAR funding bill in the history of the nation. (In the week after 9/11, and I think for Hurricane Katrina relief, by unanimous agreement of all 435 House members, the funding bills for these two emergencies bypassed the committee and were brought straight to the floor for as much debate as we wanted, and for as many amendments as we wanted). The massive and unaffordable Farm Bill conference report was handled in such shoddy secrecy and dropped so fast on the House floor Pelosi et al did not even notice it was missing 57 pages! The Bill President Bush vetoed was 57 pages shorter than the one passed by the House. Is it valid legally? Who knows? These Keystone Cops running the House could care less. Speaker Pelosi even changed a vote Republicans had won, 215 to 213, AFTER the vote total was announced as final by the clerk, to 213 to 213 so we would lose, and then altered House records to cover up the theft. The only record they could not alter was the CSPAN broadcast which is the only evidence the public has of an actual vote theft on the floor of the U.S. House. Like I said, the House floor under Nancy Pelosi is the Black Hole of Calcutta. Not one major media outlet and not one Democrat or liberal has complained about any of this. Outrageous, inexcusable and intolerable in a free society no matter which party is in charge. In my experience, the fewer the number of people who write a bill, and the less time they permit anyone to read it, and the shorter the debate, and the fewer amendments they allow, the worse the bill will certainly be. In 2002 I became the first member of Congress to publish my earmark requests AND my request letters on my website www.culberson.house.gov - the House rules did not require members to publish them until 2007. My actions prove I have tried to shine sunlight in every corner of government since I was first elected. In 1987 in my first year in the Texas Legislature I became the first elected official in the country (to my knowledge) to create an interactive computer "bulletin board" to publish the daily schedule of bills on the House floor. I used my first computer, a Macintosh Lisa, and a BB program called White Knight. My assistant and I would type in the schedule, I would type in explnations of what I was doing, how I was voting and answer questions people would post for me. I need to digitize the Ch 13 report Wayne Dolcefino did when I got in huge trouble with then House Speaker Gib Lewis for repeatedly insisting publicly that the voters had a right to real time access to floor schedules, bill text and committee hearings etc. I tried to tap into the State of Texas legislative mainframe so we wouldn't have to keep typing it and got shot down repeatedly. What I am doing today I have done from day one. I love technology and believe passionately in the disinfecting power of sunshine, as did my hero Thomas Jefferson who often said we should try all abuses at the bar of public opinion. I follow him here as I do on all issues as a free market, fiscally conservative Jeffersonian. I just discovered Twitter and Qik and will expand their use everywhere I go in Washington. I already Qikked the Phoenix Mars landing and will begin to interview my colleagues (when they agree) and take viewers into every corner of the Capitol I can both for its history and beauty but above all to look behind the scenes and explain what takes place where and how bills are written. Also, unlike others, you will not read posts from my staff on Twitter or Qik etc. You will always hear from me personally. This is fun, and it is also my job. I hope to redefine a Congressman's job description for the 21st Century. I want to be a "real time representative." Do not rely on the liberally biased local Houston paper for your news about me. I have submitted and won funding for every Metro rail line that they have asked me for help with IF it was on the 1993 ballot approved by the voters. The only ones they won't get are the ones not approved by the voters. Keep an open mind and use your own judgment based on who I am and what I do. All my financial disclosures and my campaign contributions are easy to find on line and I am happy for anyone to review them. Go to my website. I designed it to provide more information than you will find on most Congressmen, thats why I won a Silver Mouse Award for it. I explain every one of my votes within about 48 hours. Its all there. Always has been. I never laid eyes on Jack Abramoff, he never gave me a dime and I have voted against almost every major spending initiative pushed by the White House and Speaker Hastert and DeLay since I got here because I am a fiscal conservative and a Texan first. As a public servant, I try to remember and honor Sir Thomas More's last words. He was Henry VIII's Chancellor, and before he was executed for refusing to legitimize Henry's first divorce, he said, "I am the King's good servant, but God's first." Do your homework and don't accept blindly what biased people tell you. Follow Missouri's advice - it works well for me - "Show me." Thanks John Culberson
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With all due respect, sir, here is my homework...

by justin@justinha... on June 13, 2008 - 2:54pm
Mr. Culberson, As a constituent of yours, I have followed your career in Congress and do feel that I know you and what you stand for. I appreciate your quick reply. But I must take issue with a couple of your points. So in the "Show Me" spirit, here is the "homework" you requested that I submit: You worked with Tom DeLay to pressure the Bush administration into shutting down an Indian-owned casino that lobbyist Jack Abramoff wanted closed. Subsequently, Abramoff and his Indian gaming clients showered 250 Republican members of Congress with over $4.4 million dollars in campaign contributions. In fact, If I remember correctly, you defended Tom Delay's corrupt behavior till the bitter end, contributing $5,000 to his legal defense fund and proclaiming him to be a "Stonewall Jackson" who was "willing to take shots on behalf of GOP troops". Those shots, as you call them, severely undermined our democracy and public confidence in the Republican party. But evidently they did not undermine your confidence, and your commitment to Tom DeLay and what he stood for. You were, and continue to be an ardent opponent of light rail in Houston. Fighting for years to block federal funding, and working to this day to block light rail's expansion. Though you say you supported funding for rail only after the passage of ballot initiatives, you did not ask for any ballot initiatives that I'm aware of when you oversaw the condemnation of more than 480 properties through eminent domain to expand the Katy Freeway with federal funds you earmarked. Sadly those 480 property owners did not have a political action committee with a seat at the table. But the construction companies who would benefit from the lucrative federal contracts did, giving you close to $43,500 in campaign contributions between 2002 and 2006. As far as your comments on the Democratic Congress, I would submit the following: Your statement:
"Farm Bill conference report was handled in such shoddy secrecy and dropped so fast on the House floor Pelosi et al did not even notice it was missing 57 pages! The Bill President Bush vetoed was 57 pages shorter than the one passed by the House."
The facts: First, the House passed the entire bill - it was a printing error where 34 pages weren't printed so the President didn't veto the bill in its entirety - it had nothing to do with the actual bill that was passed. Second, the printing error was made by a person who apparently worked for the Clerk under Hastert who was kept on under Democratic leadership. Third, the House scratched the whole thing, re-voted it and passed it with a veto proof margin of 306-110 including 90 Republican yeas.   Maybe you didn't read Congressional Scholar Norm Ornstein's column who said this on the subject:
"Consider the incident I mentioned in last week's column, wherein Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) introduced a resolution calling for an ethics investigation of the embarrassing enrollment glitch in which a title of the agriculture bill that President Bush vetoed was inadvertently missing, requiring some fancy footwork on the part of the majority to make up for the error. This was clearly a gaffe by an enrolling clerk, something that neither House leaders nor the White House caught when the president issued his veto. There was no reason for anyone to gain some advantage somehow by removing this title; it was simply a major blunder by an employee."
But Boehner not only called for an ethics investigation, he also "admonished" Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the majority leadership for their actions and asserted that the vote to override the veto might be unconstitutional. Which raises an interesting question: If the vote to override is unconstitutional, what does that make the veto?   This brouhaha was just silly and makes the minority look foolish, petty and petulant. But it is only a small example of the larger point. Another is the Leader Boehner's manipulation to block an independent ethics investigative arm--there was no reason other than to deny the majority a bipartisan victory. The most significant examples are in the motions to recommit with instructions.
  Sources: http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.28091/pub_detail.asp http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll353.xml http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5go6xxZuX_0xQECFQHeOzX1SimK8AD90QVFAG0 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/10782.html   Your statement:
"Speaker Pelosi even changed a vote Republicans had won, 215 to 213, AFTER the vote total was announced as final by the clerk, to 213 to 213 so we would lose, and then altered House records to cover up the theft."
The facts: First, Speaker Pelosi doesn't have the power to do that - Rep. McNulty was the person who closed the vote as the person acting as the Speaker in the Chair and he explained it was a mistake. Second, per Republican request, there is a House Committee that was set up to investigate the vote with public hearings which cost the taxpayers half a million dollars. They are apparently still working on their report but the news reports from the hearing make it sound like the Republicans just won’t take “I’m sorry” for an answer.  Third, it didn't change the outcome of the vote and there as was no cover up – I have no idea what you mean by “altered House records” that sounds like a total fabrication.  Also makes me wonder where you were in 2003 when the Medicare prescription drug bill was held open for three hours so the GOP could twist arms and get their votes.   Sources: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000002838883 http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gop-stolen-vote-investigators-say-dems-explanations-implausible-2008-05-14.html   For readers who want some "transparency" in their facts on how the House is run which you described as the “Supreme Soviet” and the new transparency measures democrats brought to Congress, here are a couple of pieces from news sources and Republican Members of the House: Craig Holman of Public Citizen who said of the Democratic Congress:
"It is not “business as usual” on Capitol Hill. The business of Congress is now surprisingly transparent for the public to scrutinize, criticize and sometimes even praise."
Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California who was described as “one of the most conservative members of the House”:
“I think that I have been treated more fairly, and a number of my Republican colleagues have been treated more fairly, since the Democrats have become the majority than I was treated by my own leadership.”
On fulfilling the promise to restore dignity to the House, Republican Representative Ray LaHood of Illinois:
“They can send their members home crowing about their accomplishments. And they’ve done it in a bipartisan way, which is exactly what they promised to do.”
As your constituent, I hope that you will endeavor in the future to ensure your public statements are more in line with the facts. Thank you again for your time, and for your comments.  
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Well done homework but very selective w glaring omissions

by johnculberson on June 13, 2008 - 11:47pm
Justin I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful and carefully researched rebuttal. This news story is not the place for a full blown bit by bit response, but since you are clearly a worthy and courteous opponent, I would like to cut and paste this dialogue onto my federal webpage (or campaign depending on how focused you want to get on defeating me in the next election). I think you should be given the opportunity to make your best case in detail where it is directly relevant on all points. Then we can carry on a debate on my blog - we could start a new trend -I will invite opponents to debate me on my blog - I am very proud of my work and absolutely confident of the wisdom of the Jeffersonian Republican principles I follow. We will clearly not agree on core issues. You appear to be a committed liberal just as I am a committed conservative. Remember the core issue at stake here in this column and in what I am doing with technology - our Congress desperately needs sunlight and open full fair debate and amendments on all bills. You do not and cannot refute that the deepest darkest hole in Washington is the House floor, or that the $165 billion WAR funding bill was written in secret by a handful of people and dropped on the floor with very little time to read it, little debate and no amendments. That is unprecendented and outrageous and I am sorry you are not offended or upset at being shut out of seeing or debating the funding of our troops and the war. The point about the obscenely expensive Farm Bill is that it was handled essentially the same way - dropped on the floor so fast and with so little time to be thoughtful and careful that they left out 34 pages (I am working from personal memory and thought it was 57). This is an offensive and frankly incompetent way to run the United States Congress, especially since it belongs to you and me and not the House leadership. The point of Micah Sifry's article is to describe a new way of shining sunlight on this process. The 215 to 213 vote WAS stolen and the Congressional record was altered - the Speaker controls everything that happens on the floor whether she is present or not and the buck stops w her - this is one of many utterly indefensible outrages where democratic procedures enshrined in our House rules since the early days of the British Parliament have been routinely ignored and violated. Hastert did it rarely, and when I was here with him I fought against it and objected at every opportunity in our Repub Caucus meetings. There is no excuse for the autocratic secretive way Speaker Pelosi runs the House and I intend to use this technology to expose this terrible abuse of our democratic process. Pelosi's House is indeed run like the Supreme Soviet. Dana Rohrabacher is a very good friend and a fellow Repub rebel so his quote is probably a complaint about how he was treated at some previous time for being a rebel - Ask him if House floor procedures today are fair and open and honest Ask LaHood the same question - specifically about the procedure for the War supplemental and how reflective it is of Pelosi procedures Finally I will always oppose casino gambling and I signed that letter because it was against a casino and it was being built in an illegal location since Texas prohibits casino gambling. My colleague and friend Cong. Pete Sessions asked me to sign it, and he is the only one I knew to be behind it, and he was right to circulate the letter. Texas wanted the casino closed. You cannot rebut the fact that I don't know and have never had any connection with Abramoff. Also please read my website www.culberson.house.gov and don't rely on a liberal hatchet job website for your facts on Metro. Look under Approps and you will see that I have submitted and won funding repeatedly for Metro's light rail lines that were on the ballot in Nov 2003. I have helped on every line on the ballot just as I promised. Metro had an election where the voters approved brand new specific rail lines on specific routes. The Katy Freeway has been there since 1969 and it had never been expanded - everyone knew and agreed it was necessary. The people who live along it knew what to expect one day - I promised in 2000 to get the stalled and unfunded Katy Freeway rebuilt as fast as humanly possible. I held many townhall meetings and almost everyone agreed it was better to build it fast and big with toll dollars. I won approval for it to be the first Interstate highway in the nation funded with local toll dollars, and it will be finished in record time five years and two months. Even though it is the biggest most expensive freeway in Texas history, and is entirely in my district, and I am on the Appropriations Committee, I have not had to earmark one dime for it while I have been on the committee. I am walking the walk as a fiscal conservative and leading by example where other States have no money to build or expand freeways. I always keep my word. That's why I have kept my job. Anyone who Twitters me or responds on live Qik video or my new internet Townhall meetings will always hear from me personally and not my staff. Thanks for the thoughtful debate. John Culberson
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here comes everybody...

by justin@justinha... on June 14, 2008 - 8:53am
Thank you, again, for your response, Congressman. I had hoped you would address your close relationship, commitment, and support for Tom DeLay and his agenda. But I fully appreciate that there may be a better venue to continue this discussion. I think your offer to debate is a great idea. Is this an offer you will also extend to your opponent, Michael Skelly? You and Skelly ought to have a Lincoln-Douglas style exchange online that exists on both your of your sites, and/or a 3rd party neutral site. It should run from September till the election in November, with each of you responding to two questions a week: one from each other, and one that the public, collectively, would like to ask you. Since you seem to have an inclination towards video, that could be the medium. The video questions from the public could be collected and voted on using a platform called "community counts", which both I and the TechPresident folks have used with great success. I think this would be of great benefit to the voters, and a good opportunity for both of you. I would even venture to guess that my friend Micah, and the folks at Personal Democracy Forum , may even help you organize it. Are you up for the challenge?
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To all readers of this

by johnculberson on June 15, 2008 - 1:20am
To all readers of this dialogue: This is it for me. I will shift this discussion to my federal webpage, but it should be instructive as an example of the immense value and truly transparent nature of the Internet when used as a communications tool between an elected official and a constituent. This dialogue also illustrates that elected officials like me who are simply trying to do our best and bring honor and dignity back to public service don’t have to sit back and take it anymore when we are called “corrupt” or “unethical,” as has happened for 232 years in this country when all of us had to rely solely on those ancient and rapidly diminishing institutions called newspapers and television and radio. By the way, all my blogs, posts, Tweeters, Qiks etc will be written by me without pre-clearance from my wonderful staff, even though this makes them very nervous. I handle townhall meetings the same way. You won’t read a post from my staff, unless I have no time or no choice, and then the post will say it was written by staff. I have written all these posts by myself at night well after my wife and daughter have gone to bed, and I have not submitted them to my staff or anyone else for editing, feedback etc. I look forward to having a civil discourse with you on the Internet one day! John Culberson Dear Jason: I do not see where you have any ground left to support any of the terrible things you have said about me in your public posts here. It is deliberately insulting and false to claim that I follow "errand lists from Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff," or that I did not listen to my constituents or help property owners on the Katy Freeway, and that I only listened to "construction companies who would benefit from the lucrative federal contracts [and who gave me] close to $43,500 in campaign contributions between 2002 and 2006." You also said that Micah and techPresident are being “rooked by an ethically challenged member of Congress, who is in a serious re-election fight and is looking to distance himself from an image of Washington corruption he helped nurture." These are outrageous, idiotic and insultingly false claims. The only contractor I know that has given money to me and is working on the freeway is Williams Brothers Construction, the prime contractor. According to my records, the Pres and CEO, an honorable and good man I admire immensely, hasn't contributed to me since my first campaign in 2000. I had to call him the other day and ask for his help for the first time in years because a self funding millionaire is running against me, and I am not a wealthy person. Like all my donors, the CEO of Williams Brothers supports me because he is a conservative who agrees with me and likes my work. I try not to ask my donors for help until I need it. I hope they continue to contribute, just as so many other good people do individually or through their PAC at work. My good name and my good judgment cannot be bought. I would never suggest that your good name and your good judgment is for sale, especially since I don’t know you. Why be so unnecessarily rude, malicious and insulting? Your name calling is exactly why so many people can’t stand politics, which is a terrible disservice to the country because you will discourage good people from running for public office. It would be grim indeed if only millionaires ran for Congress. I bet a lot of people reading this are thinking they would never do this job because they would never put up with name calling and abuse like this. I held more Katy Freeway townhall meetings and roundtable meetings than I can count before and during construction. Here is a good truth test for you. Ask former Spring Valley Mayor Louise Richman (now a senior VP at Metro) if I did my best to meet with Spring Valley residents and the City Council before and during construction to try and understand their concerns and help ameliorate their property loss. For example, did I help with sound walls? Even though we may have disagreed on the need for the freeway expansion at the time, how does she feel about it now, and the way I have handled myself? All in all, does she think I have fulfilled my job description as representative? By the way, Jason, do you live and work inside or outside Loop 610? If you live and work inside, as a practical matter, you would not need to use the Katy Freeway regularly. My family and I all live outside the Loop in west and northwest Houston. We have suffered on that miserable freeway for years and no one had solved it until I was elected and took it on myself to lead the way to fix it. Expanding that horribly congested freeway was like giving west Houston quadruple bypass surgery. Also ask Louise if I have kept my word as I promised in 2003 and supported funding for every Metro rail line the voters approved (with the obvious exception of Richmond which was not on the ballot - Westpark was). I will not call her first. You call her and tell her why you are calling and then please report her response. I will call her in a week or two if I haven’t seen or heard from you and report what she tells me. It is also deliberately offensive and false for you to attempt to portray my appropriate support for the Republican Leader of the House who also happened to represent the Congressional district right next door to mine as anything other than support for my leader and my neighbor and my friend and for a fellow courageous conservative. Disagree agreeably with the substance of my positions on the issues, and do not malign me personally just as I would never malign you personally. We should have a civil and polite discussion just as if we were speaking in person over dinner. I am a normal, middle class, native Houstonian and fourth generation Texan who loves Texas and Houston and history and science who happens to be a Congressman. Most of all, I am a committed father and husband first and foremost. I am very passionate about restoring the American Republic designed by the Founders, and following the core principles of my hero Thomas Jefferson. By the way, any constituent has always been able to debate me anytime they want using any one of the many ways I communicate with the people I work for: in a personal meeting; in a neighborhood meeting; in a specialized roundtable meeting; in a townhall meeting in person or by telephone conference call or by internet video/chat or phone; or by Twitter, or by Qik video and chat, or by blog, or by email, or by snail mail or by any one of several new Internet techniques I am working on now. I have always tried my best to be one of the most accessible, responsive and accountable Congressmen in Washington. I am truly trying to become a real time representative. Please keep it polite and civil and non personal and we can help make government more transparent and accountable. John Culberson PS Micah - I will end this here so that Jason (and anyone else) can debate me on my blog on my federal website (more politely I hope). I also want to tell you, Micah, that I will start posting my weekly calendar of meetings and events and I will put any aspect of my public life on the web that would help people better understand the job of a United States Congressman. Next to being a father and a husband, it is the best job I have ever had, and I am very proud of every aspect of my work on behalf of Texas and Houston. I am especially proud of adhering to Jeffersonian Republican principles, which will withstand all sunlight and, if we would only follow them faithfully, would truly lead to the "end of history" as Francis Fukuyama once predicted democracy had done. I welcome suggestions from you and your readers on how I can better shine sunlight on every detail of my work, and on every detail of the Congress' work, especially the black hole that is the House floor. I am very excited about these new communications tools and will continue to do my best to blaze new technological trails as I did with my Mac Lisa and the White Knight Bulletin Board program in 1987. I did not intend for this to become so long and drawn out but when someone I never met and who doesn't know the slightest thing about me personally calls me corrupt and ethically challenged along with other blatant falsehoods, publicly, I couldn't sit still for it. After all, I never had the technological capability to fight back until now. In all my years in public service, on the regular occasions when our local liberal biased newspaper or a local station would print or publish false, misleading or outrageous distortions about me, they would either never print or publish my rebuttal, or refuse to correct the error, or if they did, they would put it on page 8 in tiny print days later where no one would ever see it. This transparent new medium does indeed cut both ways. Finally, I am sure you have noticed that Jason, with his obviously detailed "inside knowledge" of Congress as he admits, has proven my statement that the deepest darkest hole in Washington is the House floor. Note that he never denies that Speaker Pelosi regularly drops huge, expensive and immensely important legislation directly onto the House floor without any committee hearing, with very little notice or time to read it, and with either no or very few and narrow amendments permitted. This is exactly the way the old Soviet Union operated, and it is a disgrace for the U. S. House to be operated this way. Not only does he admit it by his refusal to deny it, he doesn't even defend it. It is indefensible. Especially when it was done on a monumentally important bill that could affect the survival of our nation - the War Supplemental Appropriations Bill. So I rest my case on this as well, and I hope we can use the Internet to shame Pelosi et al into restoring democracy and fairness and transparency to the House floor, as she promised in her campaign and on opening day of the Congress. Thanks. John Culberson
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