As was mentioned last year on this list, e-mail is not a good option for
communicating with your Senators and representatives, particularly with
topics such as impeachment that have a high national interest.  Faxing is
the better alternative for instant written communication.  For DOS
users, Ecofax is easy to use and install.  It is also free to download and
use.  Find it at http://www.eurisco.com.  it is not too late to turn your
computer into a functional fax modem.

kelly


from the New York times
      January 12, 1999

E-Mail on Impeachment Slows Senate Servers

      By JERI CLAUSING

     WASHINGTON -- The Senate impeachment trial is taking its toll on
     more than the legislative process. A seven-fold increase in
     constituent e-mail has created a bottleneck for the Senate e-mail
     server, making electronic communication slow and unreliable, staff
     members said Monday.

     Since Senators were sworn in on Thursday to be jurors in President
     Clinton's impeachment trial, the e-mail volume on the Senate server
     has jumped from an average of 70,000 a day to 500,000 a day,
     according to the Senate Computer Center.

     Staff members in some offices said that they were getting virtually
     no e-mail from outside the Capitol late last week. Others said
     messages languished in the system for days before finally finding
     their intended recipients.

     On Monday, outside e-mail appeared to be getting through, but only
     sporadically.

     "It's really slow," said Lisa Brenner, in the press office of
     Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat. "I can tell
     you personally that some news groups I subscribe to, I didn't get
     anything from them [Thursday and Friday]. That's atypical. But I
     have gotten some outside mail."

     Still others, apparently swamped with a combination of phone calls
     and e-mail that was getting through, said they hadn't noticed any
     problems.

     "We are getting a lot of e-mail and telephone calls," said Paul
     Smith, a spokesman for Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a Utah Republican.
     "It hasn't slackened up. ... It's very steady."

     The Senate Computer Center has increased its computer capacity to
     try and end the bottleneck, but, the Computer Center said in an
     e-mail to Senate offices, "until the influx of e-mail begins to die
     down, Senate offices should continue to expect delays."

     Liz McAlhany, director of customer relations for the Senate
     Sergeant at Arms, said that part of the problem is that much of the
     e-mail has to be translated from the standard Internet format to
     the proprietary CC mail format used by Lotus Notes.

     To address the problem, the Computer Center has added three more
     gateway machines, McAlhany said.
     _________________________________________________________________

   E-mail is considered a less than ideal way for constituents to
   communicate with Congress.
     _________________________________________________________________

     The system had been upgraded in anticipation of a surge in mail
     when the Senate convened impeachment hearings, but officials had
     estimated the daily load would only increase to 200,000 or 300,000.

     "We believed that would cover it, but we're still getting 500,000
     e-mails a day," she said. "We're doing what we can, adding
     appropriate hardware, but it's just very hard to keep pace."

     Even on a good day, e-mail is considered a less than ideal way for
     constituents to communicate with Congress, recent studies indicate.
     Although some of the more technologically savvy lawmakers are
     building a strong Internet presence and looking for ways to use
     e-mail to interact with constituents, a survey by CyberTimes in
     1998 and a more recent study conducted by OMB Watch, a nonprofit
     research and advocacy group in Washington, indicate a majority of
     offices still do not give e-mail the same consideration they give
     traditional letters and phone calls.

     In fact, 19 percent of Congressional offices do not even maintain
     and e-mail address, according to the OMB Watch's recent report,
     "Speaking Up in the Internet Age: Use and Value of Constituent
     E-mail and Congressional Web Sites."

     "I do not maintain an e-mail address. The significant increase in
     mail volume that would result would place too great a strain on my
     resources and my staff's ability to keep up with their already
     heavy workload," says the Web site of Representative Barney Frank,
     a Massachusetts Democrat. "However, I will, as always, gladly
     respond to any question, comment or inquiry received by letter or
     phone call."

   Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company


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