Profiles of NYS House Members

To help the SBDC delegation on their current trip to Washington, last week I assembled information for each of New York's 29 members of the House of Representatives. Here's what I put together:

http://www.nyssbdc.org/RNFiles/NYS_House_Overview.doc

The idea was to prepare a one-page summation of each member - district, party affiliation, committee and subcommittee assignments, etc. Also, what issues are key to them? Where in the press (and in what context) do their names come up in the press?

Answering this last question was the fun part. I read a lot of articles about each of the twenty-nine. I wanted to excerpt from only those articles that made reference to a stand on an issue relating to the economy, or those which would affect their local business sector. I found these in local business papers, press releases, the representative's website, business journals, etc. When possible, I only selected items that have appeared within the last 12 months (though there are exceptions to that, now and again).

I'm not one who routinely assails the press for its shortcomings. The press is a big tent, covering all manner of opinion, with varying levels of quality. But, like I mentioned, I had to read through a lot of junk to find what I included here. Scandal sells, I guess, as does the easy psychological analysis behind why this candidate won the election, or (more likely) why this one lost it. I'm going to be reading articles a lot more carefully after going through this exercise.

If you weren't sure of what your local representative has been saying of late, this file will give you an introduction. It's not the last word, by any means. Dig deeper.

Comments

I was reading the March 2007 Searcher mag, and I noticed the piece "Librarians as Change Agents: How You Can Help Influence Public Policy in the 110th Congress". It includes 10 Quick Ways to Get in Your Representative’s and Senator’s Line of Sight, plus some pro-open info links. And it's the FREE article!
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/mar07/Baish.shtml
Anonymous said…
Darrin,
Thanks for those Congressional profiles. The only thing missing is a psychological profile and favorite book,movie, and snack food.
peace,
Angel

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