Ready, Fire, Aim! - Mihail's Public Blog: 60-day silence at incumbent senators' websites

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Thursday, October 24, 2002

60-day silence at incumbent senators' websites

There's a ban on senators from updating their websites if they're running for re-election, according to this New York Times story (registration required) because the Senate had determined that websites provide incumbents with a taxpayer-subsidized advantage during an election year:

Under Senate rules intended to prevent members from campaigning at government sites, the 30 senators seeking re-election next month cannot update their sites during the home stretch of the campaign. There is no such rule for House members.

Some senators and political groups say the rule should be abolished, or at least altered, to reflect the way the Internet has penetrated society. In addition to the Johnson-Thune race in South Dakota, current races in Louisiana, Iowa and Georgia pit a House member against an incumbent senator.

"This is a quirk in the rules that is really unfair to Senate incumbents," said Bob Martin, the communication director for Senator Johnson. "Web sites have become such an effective communication tool for constituents that it is like being thrown back a decade." Members of Congress are barred from sending out mass mailings in the 60 days before an election. When Congress enacted its Internet rules in 1996, the House decided that information provided on the Web was different from unsolicited mail sent to a voter's home and would be permitted.

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