Leahy Lauded for Best Web Site

03/04/2007

By Matt Granite
WCAX-TV Channel 3 News

Who has the best web site on Capital Hill? It's Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy - again. 

Leahy is the only member of Congress to win a Golden Mouse Award three years in a row, for best web site on Capitol Hill.

Beverly Bell, Director of the Congressional Management Foundation, says each lawmaker's web site is carefully evaluated before picking a winner. "We have 165 criteria that we use to judge each of the web sites," Bell said. She says Leahy's web site is particularly effective because each member of his staff contributes to the site on a weekly basis. "Mostly he's focused on what the constituents and people coming to his web site want. He gives them that information and makes it easy for them to find."

"We started the web site a few years ago. I realized more and more Vermonters were going online and this was a way to update them immediately," Leahy said. He says his web site does two very important things: it lets everyone back home know what the Senators up to, and it also lets Vermonters tell the senator what they need. "People stop me on the street all the time and tell me they learned something, and if they see something and disagree, they let me know too, so it's very good feedback to have."

Leahy has more per capita web site visits from his home state than any other politician. He also has one of the few Congressional web sites where the public can leave comments online. Leahy also holds weekly online chats and encourages Vermonters to log on and join in.

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