Leahy's Website Tapped Again as One of the Best on Capitol Hill

3/3/2003

From: David Carle of the Office of Sen. Patrick Leahy, 202-224-3693 web: http://leahy.senate.gov

WASHINGTON, Mar. 3 -- Sen. Patrick Leahy's website Monday was recognized by a nonpartisan group as being one of the best in Congress. For the second consecutive year, Leahy's site, http://leahy.senate.gov, received a Congress Online Gold Mouse Award from the Congress Online Project for his site's focus on audience, content, interactivity, usability and innovation. Joining Leahy's website for the honor were the sites of two others senators: Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Leahy, often called the "cyber senator" for his enthusiasm for and his work on Internet and technology issues in Congress, was the second senator to create a website, in 1995. Since then he has worked to make his website as useful as possible to Vermonters by incorporating into his site as many aspects of his work as he can. He has also led in promoting web technology and Internet-based sales to Vermont businesses. He also is a technology "missionary" on Capitol Hill. He co-founded, and for seven years has been Senate co-chair, of the Congressional Internet Caucus. In recent years the leading Internet consumer magazine, Yahoo! Internet Life, has called Leahy "the most net-friendly member of Congress."

Leahy has always worked to facilitate the public's access to government information, and his website reflects that. He is the Senate's leading champion of the Freedom of Information Act and author of the 6-year-old Electronic Freedom of Information Act. Last month, Leahy and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced legislation requiring the Library of Congress to make Congressional Research Service (CRS) documents available online to the public. The CRS prepares reports and analysis of issues and legislation for Congress.

"The Internet is a great way to share, store and retrieve information," said Leahy. "Today, the Internet is more than a research tool, it is the way many Americans interact with friends, businesses and government. Keeping the content fresh and useful is the key to a website that works."

Rep. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) site was recognized with a Bronze Mouse Award, and the Vermont delegation's overall ranking -- including the website of Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) -- gave Vermont the highest ranking (3.75, on a scale of 4) of any of the 50 states.

The Congress Online Project is a joint research project of the nonpartisan Congressional Management Foundation, an organization devoted to promoting a more effective Congress. More information about the report, including a detailed list of award winning sites, is available at the foundation's website, at www.congressonlineproject.org/webstudy2003.html.

Leahy also is an accomplished photographer, and many of the photo images on his website are Vermont photos he has taken himself -- especially the seasonally specific photos used for banners on the second-level pages.