By Marc Korman.
When I first began crafting this entry, I had planned to write about the various Montgomery County state legislators with blogs. After searching the websites of each legislator, I found that not only did few have blogs, but most had rarely updated websites.
Every legislator in Annapolis has a state profile which includes a picture, contact information, and a short biography. Most have a campaign website that they occasionally update but are mostly outdated. I was surprised at how little most of our legislators have on the Internet. There is a website for the entire Montgomery County Delegation which was recently updated to reflect the local bill schedule for the fall.
What follows are four lists. List one are those legislators with blogs on their websites. List two is a list of regularly updated legislator websites. List three are those members with websites that have not been updated in over a year. Finally, list four is a list of legislators who I could not identify websites for. I checked these websites over the past two weeks, so it is possible they have been updated since I last viewed them.
List 1 – Blog Roll:
Legislator: Brian Frosh:
Blog: http://www.brianfrosh.com/blog
Website: http://www.brianfrosh.com/
Blog Last Updated: June 2008
Note: Senator Frosh’s blog consists of his newsletters, which are also distributed by email.
Legislator: Saqib Ali
Blog: http://www.alifordelegate.com/blog/
Website: http://www.alifordelegate.com/
Blog Last Updated: August 2008
Note: Delegate Ali primarily updates his blog during the legislative session.
Legislator: Kirill Reznik
Website: http://www.reznikformaryland.com/
Blog: http://www.reznikformaryland.com/blog
Blog Last Updated: July 2008
Note: Delegate Reznik began keeping his blog earlier this summer. Full disclosure, I am Delegate Reznik’s campaign chair.
Legislator: District 18 Delegation
Blog: http://maryland18.blogspot.com/
Blog Last Updated: July 2008
Note: The legislators for D18 and their Central Committeemembers write occasional blog entries.
List 2 – Regularly Updated Websites
Legislator: Anne Kaiser
Website: http://www.annekaiser.com/
Note: Includes issues discussion and information from the 2008 legislative session.
Legislator: Karen Montgomery
Website: http://www.karensmontgomery.org/
Note: Includes a link to her 2008 session review, but the link would not open.
Legislator: Craig Rice
Website: http://www.riceformaryland.com/
Note: Includes press releases updated after the 2008 legislative session.
Note: I helped draft some of the material for Delegate Rice’s website when he ran in 2006.
Legislator: Brian Feldman
Website: http://www.brianjfeldman.com/
Note: Updated since the 2008 legislative session.
Legislator: Rob Garagiola
Website: http://www.robgaragiola.org/
Note: Last updated during the legislative session with updated news clippings updated.
Legislator: Bill Frick
Website: http://www.billfrick.com/
Note: I saw early versions of Delegate Frick’s website before it went live and gave feedback.
Legislator: Al Carr
Website: http://www.alcarr.org/
Note: Photo album updated during the 2008 legislative session.
Legislator: Mike Lenett
Website: http://www.mikelenett.com/
Note: Updated after the 2008 legislative session.
Legislator: Roger Manno
Website: http://www.rogermanno.com/
Note: Updated after the 2008 legislative session.
Legislator: Jamie Raskin
Website: http://www.senatorjamieraskin.com/
Note: Last updated with press clips from April 2008.
Legislator: Charles Barkley
Website: http://www.charlesbarkleyfordelegate.com/
Note: Last updated with a 2008 legislative wrap-up.
Legislator: Nancy King
Website: http://www.friendsofnancyking.com/
Note: Last updated with July 2008 news.
List 3 – Rarely Updated Websites
Legislator: Herman Taylor
Website: http://www.hermantaylor.com/
Note: Site last updated after 2007 legislative session.
Legislator: Rona Kramer
Website: http://www.ronakramer.com/
Note: Site last updated in 2006 and most of the links are dead.
Legislator: Kathleen Dumais
Website: http://www.kathleendumais.com/
Note: Site appears to have been updated in 2007 with new press clippings added.
Legislator: Bill Bronrott
Website: http://www.bronrott.com/
Note: Site last updated in 2006.
Legislator: Susan Lee
Website: http://www.mddelegatesusanlee.com/
Note: Does not appear to have been updated since the 2004 legislative session.
Legislator: Kumar Barve
Website: http://www.kumarbarve.com/
Note: Not updated since 2006.
Legislator: Jennie Forehand
Website: http://www.jennieforehand.com/
Note: Not updated since at least 2006.
Legislator: Rich Madaleno
Website: http://www.richmadaleno.com/
Note: Not updated since 2006.
Legislator: Ben Kramer
Website: http://www.benkramer.org/
Note: Site does not appear to have been updated since 2006.
Legislator: Heather Mizeur
Website: http://www.heathermizeur.com/campaign2006/
Note: Site not updated since the end of the 2006 election.
Legislator: Tom Hucker
Website: http://www.delegatehucker.com/news.html
Note: Site not updated since the end of the 2007 legislative session.
List 4 – No Website Found
Note: To find legislator websites I Googled their name. If I could find no website for the legislator on the first three pages of results, I would then Google their name and title. For example, my first attempt would be to search for ‘Michael Gordon.’ If no site came up, I would search for ‘Delegate Michael Gordon.’
Legislator: Delegate Sheila Hixson
Note: A website does come up when searching, but the URL is dead. The address is https://www.sheilahixson.us:19638/welcome/
Legislator: Delegate Jim Gilchrist
Legislator: Delegate Luiz Simmons
Legislator: Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez
Legislator: Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher
Legislator: Delegate Hank Heller