(Also published at Greater Democracy)

During the 2004 Democratic Presidential Primaries, many of the candidates had blogs and a popular question was if they would continue their blogs if they were elected president. The other day, I stumbled across the legislative blog of State Rep. Peter Sullivan. It is great to see a blog like this and I hope more elected officials chose to make their view public in this manner and thereby encourage greater public participation in the governance process.

Another important phrase from the 2004 Democratic Presidential Primary was, “You have the power!” Gov. Dean encouraged his supporters not to rely on elected officials to bring about change, but to actively work on bringing about change themselves.

In that spirit, I have created a new website where people can post the letters they write to their elected officials and encourage their officials to respond publicly on the site. I would ask each of you, when you write letters to your elected officials, please post them on the site and encourage your elected officials to respond there. Also, please read the letters that other people have written.

The website is http://opengov.smartcampaigns.com.