Town Meeting

I had a town meeting tonight. The discussion was good, but attendance was typical -- sparse. I also have a stack of pre-session questionnaires on my desk that were completed and returned (semi-decent response rate).

While I'm glad I did the town meeting and the questionnaires, the attendance and the response rate confirm that this blog is worth it. Each day I get more visits on this site than the combined attendance/response rate on those other outreach efforts, and the visitation rate is increasing rapidly.

Importantly, this site has proven very valuable in keeping constituents informed. For example, like I wrote in my January 20th entry on Banks/Credit Unions, the dialogue on this issue is mostly overblown. Like all my legislative colleagues, I received many form e-mails from constituents along the lines of "Don't tax my credit union!" or "Don't shut down my credit union!"

I thanked them for their input and referred them to my earlier blog entry, asking them to review my reasoning and to point out anything I missed. Most responded with an "Oh, I had been told this was a tax on credit unions." Though others didn't change their mind and though I didn't change my position, the site still served as a great basis for a substantive dialogue.

Speaking of democracy breaking out all over, Phil Windley invites the public to follow the legislative calendar and, if they attend a meeting, to send a report for him to post.