September 27, 2006

They'll Read This, Too

A tasty nugget from Nathan Moore's blog:

Thanks to some recently acquired emails from the governor's office, we learn that officials in state government do read at least one blog - Bill Hobbs.

Perhaps the Bredesen administration doesn't keep much of boundary between the taxpayer-funded administration and the campaign.

Update: I'm betting the administration tracks more than one blog. I'm betting they track a lot of them, and probably are pulling strings behind the scenes on one or two. I'm betting the results would be interesting if someone filed an open-records request with the administration requesting copies of all communications involving anyone in the administration, including the governor, his staff, his cabinet and their staff, in which a blog, blogger or administration-backed blog effort was mentioned. It might just be fascinating to see how much of an impact blogs really are having on the administration...

I'm not going to file such an open-records request. But the great thing about Tennessee's open-records laws is they are available to all, not just to the media or to independent journalists. You could file such a request. It's easy. Just write it up and email it to Lydia Lenker at lydia.lenker@state.tn.us.

By the way, your open-records request doesn't have to be about the topic I've just discussed. You could request copies of all communications regarding just about any issue of state government. For example, you could request all internal and external communications in which the governor or a member of his administration uses the word "income tax." Or you could request copies of all communications between the administration and the governor's campaign staff. You don't even have to know if the communications you are requesting actually exist. You can go fishing!

And they have to comply. They work for you. And it's the law.

Cool, huh?