FROM THE DESK OF SENATOR DAVID LONG
With the modern conveniences of e-mail and web sites, it is important, and I would argue essential, for elected officials to keep up with the times and provide these communication opportunities to their constituents. The Indiana Legislature already provides e-mail sites for every Senator and House member. Mine happens to be S16@ai.org. I receive more e-mails today than letters, which emphasizes just how much our world has changed in the past few years. The trouble with e-mail is that we expect a response immediately, and feel that someone is ignoring us if the response isn’t received within that time frame. With a letter, you had the chance to take your time and thoughtfully compose a response. You also had the luxury to take a few days to get to that letter. But not with electronic mail! E-mail is another example of the “instant information” world in which we live, and we must all adapt to that new reality. I try to respond to all of my e-mail within a 48-hour period, if possible. Also, I read all of my e-mails, so join the crowd and send one in if you have something on your mind, or need some information about State government.
Web sites are also necessary in this day and age, and the Indiana Republican Senate caucus is busy working on new individual sites for each Senator. Because I head an internal sub-committee to get this accomplished, my site will be the first one up and running. I am hoping to have links to key state government sites such as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, FSSA, Department of Revenue, and the Secretary of State’s Office. I also plan to have a direct link to the Do Not Call list maintained by the Attorney General’s office, as well as information on how to appeal your property tax bill, and where to get information on property tax exemptions. Other links should include the federal offices of Congressmen Souder and Pence, as well as Senators Lugar and Bayh.
I also plan to have links to key Senate and House legislation that have become laws during the past few Sessions, including the Budget bills of 2001 and 2003, as well as the tax relief and revenue bills crafted during the Special Sessions of 2001 and 2002.
Those bills that I have personally written, including the Do Not Call anti-telemarketing bill, and the Sex Offender’s Registry (where the addresses and pictures of convicted sex offenders are published on the Internet in order to allow families to know if a such an offender lives in their neighborhood) will also be available.
Finally, informational articles prepared by our Senate Communications staff will also be available on the website. These will be enhanced by a library of different articles that I have written for The Waynedale News over the past few years.
All in all, this web site will hopefully allow me to communicate more effectively with my constituents, and provide a useful service for them at the same time.
With innovation in technology and communication evolving ever more rapidly, it will be fascinating to see how we communicate a mere five years from now.
Just to put all of this in perspective, when I first began writing for The Waynedale News in 1988, with the creation of the Councilman’s Corner that is now ably written by my successor, Councilman Tom Hayhurst, I hand wrote the article and then drove it down to Waynedale and personally delivered it to the publisher, Gerry Walicki. In the ’90s came the innovation of the fax machine, so I could send my hand written document to Gerry without having to make the drive. Then came the personal computer, which allowed me to type the article that I was faxing. Finally, the Internet came into being in the new century, and with it, the proliferation of web sites. The Waynedale News now has a site to which I can e-mail my article with ease. The site even has an instantaneous response mechanism to let me know, via e-mail, that the article has been received. My how the times have changed in a mere 16 years!
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