I thought it was pretty cool when I received an invitation on Facebook to testify before the Connecticut General Assembly Judiciary Committee. I thought back to four years ago, when my wife Kim ran for State Representative. Back then, I was told that 85% of people did not know who their State Representatives were. I suspect it is an even smaller group of people that have ever testified, been asked to testify or even considered testifying before a state legislative hearing. Now, I am receiving messages from a State Representative in a different district whom I had friended on Facebook to come testify.

Yet the invitation isn’t really that surprising to people who follow the role of social media in politics. Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield has been participating in MyLeftNutmeg, a progressive blog in Connecticut since July 2006, long before he became a State Representative. He’s active on Twitter and Facebook, using Twitter to update his Facebook status.

With this in mind, I was somewhat bemused by Andy Bromage’s article in the New Haven Advocate, Gary Is Facebooking on the Job. Andy starts off by writing, “The Judiciary Committee joined the group Lawmakers Who Look Like They're Not Paying Attention.” If you missed his subtitle, “Why tweeting lawmakers are good for democracy”, it would be easy to think that Andy is criticizing Rep. Holder-Winfield. A better title might have been something like Gary Uses Facebook to be a More Effective State Representative.

I’ve been following Rep. Holder-Winfield on Twitter for a while. I’ve gotten into good discussions with him there as have others that I respect. What Rep. Holder-Winfield is doing is a good example of how to champion citizen involvement through social media. We need more people doing the same.

Christine Stuart has an article in CTNewsJunkie, Rell Enters The World of Social Media. The article notes that Gov. Rell, unlike Rep. Holder-Winfield does not actually post herself. Instead, she tells her staff what to say. Even with that, she has less than a dozen tweets, none of which are particularly engaging.

I’m doing my part in social media as well. Connecticut NORML has set up a Facebook group and is asking people on contact their state legislators to support various bills including HB 5175, An Act Concerning the Medical Use of Marijuana. I contacted my State Representative and she said she supported the bill, but that it is currently stalled in the "Joint Committee on Judiciary".

It turns out that besides, Rep. Holder-Winfield, I’m also friends with Sen. Andrew McDonald and Rep. Mike Lawlor on Facebook. They are the co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee. I’ve invited them to join the Connecticut NORML group on Facebook and to support HB 5175. If they ever get around to having a hearing on it, I hope Rep. Holder-Winfield will invite his Facebook friends to come testify.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools can provide a great way to improve citizen involvement in our government. I’m glad that Rep. Holder-Winfield is making good use of it and I hope other elected officials will as well.