Report raps Congress's Web sites

In the past, Web sites kept by congressional offices haven't enjoyed the most gleaming track record for fulfilling visitor privacy expectations or even staying online.

Now a new report has attempted to quantify and catalogue who is and isn't getting it right.

In its "2006 Gold Mouse Report: Recognizing the Best Sites on Capitol Hill" (PDF) released Monday, the Congressional Management Foundation, a 30-year-old non-profit organization that bills itself as "dedicated to promoting a more effective Congress," reaches one major conclusion: The quality of congressional Web sites, in general, is "disappointing."

The group found that among sites for individual members in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans were virtually tied in their performance, but Republicans bested Democrats on committee Web sites. In the Senate, however, Republican politicians' sites fared considerably better than Democrats' sites, scoring 10.3 percent more "A" grades and 14.9 percent more B's.

Here's a sampling of their other findings:

-38.6 percent of congressional office sites received D's or F's, which means they were considered "substandard or failing." "A" grades went to 13.8 percent of all the congressional sites.
-About half of the House Web sites and 73 percent of the Senate Web sites post privacy statements. Less than half of House Web sites and 62 percent of Senate Web sites post a privacy statement on every page.
-Blogs haven't caught in full force, for better or for worse. Only 5.3 percent of House sites and 9 percent of Senate sites contain them.
-Only 37 percent of House sites and 46 percent of Senate sites provide information about the member's voting record.

The rankings were based on 135 criteria, including the Web site's user-friendliness, overall look and feel, and quality and timeliness of information for constituents. Professors at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the University of California-Riverside, and Ohio State University, assisted with the analysis.

The CMF conducted a similar project in 2002 and 2003. Only three politicians--Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) and Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)--have earned A's in all three assessments.

Much of this year's 100-page document is also devoted to a series of seemingly common-sense do's and don'ts for congressional Web managers. Among the advice: "Don't fail to keep your information fresh and updated" and do "Foster trust in your Web site by protecting citizens' privacy."