MiCongress lets lawmakers make their own cable programs

The consummate public servant, Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D- Texas) can now be summoned by his constituents 24/7 with the click of a remote.

FOR THE RECORD:
Congressional cable: An article in Saturday’s Section A about MiCongress, a service that enables members of Congress to operate their own cable channels, said Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz (D-Texas) would air a video on his channel that would include a photo of himself as a tot. Ortiz was a young adult in the photo; his brother Oscar was the child. —

Cable subscribers in Ortiz’s district and five others can watch up to 30 minutes of on-demand programming from their legislators, just as they view reruns of their favorite shows and movies. A new service called MiCongress offers members of the House of Representatives the chance to buy their own personal cable channels for an average of $2,000 a month.

A prerecorded video that will air on Ortiz’s channel illustrates his path to politics with grainy black-and-white photos of him as a chubby tot in his Sunday best and a young soldier standing at attention.

“Never did I even dream that I would be where I am today,” Ortiz explains, accompanied by a wind symphony.

The new technology is raising some eyebrows, however, because taxpayers are picking up the tab.

Representatives can pay for the service with their tax-funded office budgets as long as the videos are nonpartisan and issue-oriented, the same standard set for congressional mailings.

But Craig Holman, the congressional representative for the watchdog group Public Citizen, said it was no coincidence that legislators had signed up for the service in the midst of their reelection campaigns.

“These are nothing but personal, rhetorical videos portraying the lawmakers as good candidates,” he said. “They look just like campaign ads.”

Tax dollars are not supposed to be used for political communication, but the volume of congressional mailings soars each election year. Holman said MiCongress is the most flagrant abuse of the system he has seen yet — and unlike mailings, the cable channel will not be pulled in the three months before the election.

Rep. James P. Moran (D-Va.) was the first to jump on board. Although constituents have given his channel rave reviews, according to spokeswoman Emily Blout, she said she didn’t think the airtime would boost his numbers in the polls.

Julie Fishman, spokeswoman for Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), said there was no temptation for legislators to use the service for political gain.

“The rules are too strict and the consequences are too harsh,” she said.

Along with Ortiz, Moran and Shuler, Reps. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl.) have signed up for MiCongress. Ten more will probably follow suit over the next month, said Stuart Shapiro, the entrepreneur who started it.

“Your lawmaker is now talking to you in the comfort of your home,” said Ortiz spokesman Jose Borjon. “And if you disagree with him, you can send him an e-mail at 3 a.m.” He said the $40,000 Ortiz paid for a mass mailing last December made MiCongress look like a bargain.

The Senate also is considering whether to approve the use of franking, or mailing, privileges for the service.

Legislators can update their channels within 48 hours of filming new content, and Shapiro said he hopes they will do so routinely, fostering a fireside chat for the digital age.

Republican Blake Farenthold, who is challenging Ortiz for his seat, is not eligible for public funding for MiCongress, but he doesn’t think he’s missing out on anything. In fact, he plans to use his opponent’s subscription to the service as a tool in his own campaign.

“The fact that he’s spending money on something that you can do for free on YouTube is a perfect example of how people who have been in Washington for too long have no respect for money,” Farenthold said. “I guess I’d be worried about it if I thought it was going to be at all effective.”

julia.love@latimes.com