Lawmakers Discover Key to Success Is in Computers

With the computer revolution inching its way into nearly every aspect of modern life, politicos also have begun tapping electronic brains to promote themselves or their ideas--with mixed reviews at the Capitol.

“If you’re not using a computer, whether you’re a challenger or an incumbent, you’re at a disadvantage,” said Assemblyman William J. Filante (R-Greenbrae).

But Republican eyebrows were raised when the Assembly’s majority Democrats decided first to install new computers in each assemblyman’s district office and later add sophisticated software programs to give legislators a list of their constituents’ names and addresses.

To that list could be added other attributes of constituents, gleaned from computer tapes of public records with all sorts of information on all of us.

Democratic Advantage

Even though lawmakers of both parties have already installed the new machines, wary Republicans see the computers and the new software as a political threat that will help Democrats stay in power.

“The power of the system is the ability to manage those lists,” said one of its leading critics, GOP Assemblyman Richard L. Mountjoy of Monrovia.

He is concerned that legislators can compile lists with specialized information about constituents, allowing more effective targeting of mail to voters with particular interests, such as senior citizens or recreational vehicle owners, in reminding them how well they are being served.

Voter records alone yield age, political party and occupation, enough to help a politician target certain groups.

Mountjoy also complained that sophisticated use of computers could be an invasion of privacy. Even though the data they use comes from public records, he argued that it should not be in a legislator’s files unless the constituent wants it there.

At the very least, he said, party affiliation should not be in the files because a legislator should serve every constituent regardless of political party.

“Anything that makes a legislator better able to serve his or her constituents is going to make it easier to get reelected,” said Democratic Assemblyman Tom Bane of Tarzana, chairman of the Assembly Rules Committee. “There’s no other way I can serve 350,000 people.”

Committee Debate

He contends that the Republicans hope to keep majority Democrats working inefficiently to better the chances that the GOP can return to power.

“That’s what the issue really is,” he said.

The Assembly Rules Committee has been the battleground on which the computer war has been fought.

Late last year, the Democrat-controlled committee approved the purchase of $8.5-million worth of Digital Equipment Corp. hardware with the capability of doing basic word processing. It also can be plugged into a central computer at the Capitol to yield the latest information on bills making their way through the Legislature.

Before the Legislature recessed last month, the committee, on a partisan 5-3 vote, took the next step by approving contracts with six companies that market the controversial “constituent management” software programs.

Legislators will be able to choose from among the six programs, which range in price from $6,000 to $9,000. If each took the most expensive brand, the state would spend $720,000.

There are more decisions to be made on safeguards against abuse and for the constituent data that will go into the computers when the Legislature returns to Sacramento on Monday.

Bane pointed out that rules on the books already prohibit using legislative computers for campaign purposes.

And he argued it is good business for lawmakers to have as much information about constituents as possible, including party affiliation.

Even some Republicans sing the praises of the new system and are eager to have it in their own district offices, Bane said. Congressmen already have it.

The name of a constituent who writes to a legislator can be summoned onto a computer screen, along with all the information gleaned from public records. Previous contacts with that person are recorded, along with correspondence that might already have been sent him.

The state Senate has not moved toward installing the computer system, but staff members say they are watching the Assembly’s work closely.