I thought those of you who read this blog would be interested in a story about blogging by Walt Williams of the State Journal….

Enjoy! 

By WALT WILLIAMS

wwilliams@statejournal.com

CHARLESTON — When Sen. Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha, wanted to sound off on a bill touted as a compromise for getting rid of the business franchise tax, he turned to his blog.

There, in a Feb. 18 post, he expressed his disbelief that under an agreement worked out between Gov. Joe Manchin’s office and bill sponsor Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, the proposed legislation wouldn’t do away with the tax until 2015 – seven years from now.

McCabe, he wrote, should have told the governor’s people to “stick it in their ear.” He called the deal “an embarrassment to our state.”

“We should send out letters about it to every major Fortune 500 company in the nation and tell them to give us a call in 2015 or maybe go ahead and wait until 2016, but THEN, we will really want them to invest in the state,” Sprouse wrote.

Blogs – slang for Web logs – are a dime a dozen these days, with people from all walks of life now having the ability to publicly weigh in on politics, the media or the state of the world in general. But only a few politicians are using the tool to get their messages out to constituents despite the proliferation of political blogs on the Internet.

The likely reason, Sprouse said in an interview, is that blogs are a large commitment to properly maintain, and not every politician is willing to be completely forthcoming with his or her views on controversial issues.

“I update every day, sometimes a couple times a day, so it’s definitely a huge commitment,” he said.

Sprouse’s blog at www.changewv.com has been up and running since 2006, when former Senate staffer and fellow blogger William Stewart of www.williamstewart.org suggested to the senator that he use it as an outlet for his “rants” in the office. The senator has since found the blog a good emotional outlet for issues that gets him worked up.

“I feel better after I write about it,” he said.

Sprouse said he tries to keep a sarcastic, humorous tone when writing posts. The senator said he believes in being honest about his feelings because people who read blogs expect an edgy tone. Some lawmakers can’t do that, and the result is blog posts that read like press releases.

“You have to build a regular readership like you would a radio show or a talk show, and you need those people to come back every day,” Sprouse said.

Fellow lawmaker and blogger Delegate Jonathan Miller, R-Berkeley, views his blog at www.delegatejmiller.com as the evolution of his campaign Web site. He uses it as a tool to keep in touch with constituents, keep them up to date with what is happening in the Legislature and point them to news articles they otherwise may have missed.

 “With a blog, you can just throw some things out there like ‘here was an interesting article about a piece of legislation in California that could apply here in West Virginia,’ and (readers) can e-mail me and let me know what they think,” he said. “It’s a great way to disseminate information to my constituents.”

It is also a great way to get your message directly to people without going through the filter of the media, Miller said.

“You can state your case directly to the constituents and to the public,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, you may have read that in a news article, but here is some more background and some more information.’ That is a definite plus.”

Blogs can serve as forums for much debate, not all of it suitable for family viewing. Miller doesn’t allow readers to comment on his blog. Sprouse does, although he will delete any comments that he said make personal attacks or use foul language. Despite that, the senator said he probably could count the number of comments he deleted on one hand and that some readers look forward to the comments of other readers as much as they do the posts.

Sprouse and Miller may be the only two regular bloggers at the Legislature. Delegate Nancy Peoples Guthrie, D-Kanawha, also maintains a blog at www.delegateguthrie.com/myBlog, but it is only updated once or twice a month. It also may be no coincidence Miller, 23, and Sprouse, 39, are two of the youngest members of the body, coming from generations very much wired into the Information Age.

“When I was in college, I did these things,” Miller said about running a blog. “I worked on Web sites and things like that. Just my age, my generation would make it more suitable for me to do things like that because I am more familiar with it. I feel comfortable with that type of technology, and I see the direct benefit of it.”