Unvarnished, Up Front and Personal

Legislators are unique among elected officials because they can be who they are and speak for themselves in their own voice, without the encumbrances of operational responsibilities that come with the territory for the executive branch and most independently elected officials. That makes them natural candidates to blog, and a growing number are. Such was the nature of my conversation with staff writer Pauline Vu for a Stateline.org update on the state of the new legislator's art. Part stump speech, part coffee shop chatter and more than a little stream of consciousness narrative, legislative blogs reflect the personality and world view of these (mostly) free agents - for good or for ill.

Excuse a self-referential reference, but I thought this was pretty good. Vu wrote:

Despite the risks, Taylor of the Center for Digital Government said the best legislative blogs are those written by lawmakers who don't turn to their advisors for approval on every posting. But therein also lies the danger. "It is a legislator who may speak the truth in unvarnished terms...and I suppose depending on your view of how public processes are supposed to work, that brings both promises and pitfalls," he said.

That brought a response from Barrett Marson who runs a blog for "the majority members of the Arizona House of Representatives. Its mostly unvarnished." And it mostly is ... as you can see here.