ND State Senators Blogging

The five senators began blogging when The Bismarck Tribune sent e-mails to every lawmaker, asking each if they were interested in keeping a blog. Keith Darnay, the paper’s Web master, said he thought the feature would draw more visitors to the Tribune’s legislative Web site.”Blogs are the item of the hour right now,” Darnay said. Only six senators responded – Mathern, Trenbeath, Seymour, Tim Flakoll, R-Fargo, Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, and Tony Grindberg, R-Fargo.

Of the six senator bloggers, Mathern is the most prolific. He updates his journal about every other day with posts about religion and politics, observations on the Capitol and tidbits about his family life. “It’s a way to get information out, and a way for citizens to have pretty direct communication with legislators,” he said. “I probably reveal more (on the blog) than what I say on the Senate floor.”