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Sen. Cornyn’s Web Site Honored as One of the Best in Congress

618 House and Senate Web Sites Evaluated for 2007 Gold Mouse Report

The 2007 CMF Gold Mouse Award

WASHINGTON—The Web site of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was honored today by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), a non-profit, non-partisan management consulting and research organization in Washington, D.C., for having one of the best Web sites in Congress. The site, cornyn.senate.gov, was one of only four personal offices in the Senate to receive the prestigious Gold Mouse Award.

To identify the awards, CMF analyzed 618 congressional Web sites, including those of all Senate and House Members, committees (both majority and minority sites), and official leadership sites. In 2007, CMF awarded 36 Gold, 34 Silver, and 34 Bronze Mouse Awards between the House and the Senate.

“Bringing more Texas sunshine to Washington has been among my top priorities since being elected to the Senate. Utilizing technology to communicate effectively with those I have the honor of representing is part of that effort. It is important that Texans are able to let their voices be heard, including through my Web site. I appreciate this recognition from the Congressional Management Foundation and will continue with my efforts to open more windows in Washington for the American people,” Sen. Cornyn said today.

The 2007 Gold Mouse Report and Awards are part of the “Connecting to Congress” research project, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. For this project CMF partnered with researchers from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, University of California-Riverside and Ohio State University to study how Members of Congress can use the Internet to improve communications with their constituents and to promote greater participation in the legislative process.

“One of the key reasons for the awards is to highlight best practices so offices can improve their sites by learning from those doing a good job,” said Beverly Bell, CMF’s Executive Director. “Web sites like Senator Cornyn’s provide a template for other congressional offices to follow.”

“Senator Cornyn’s Web site shows that he understands the value of creating a virtual office to reach specific audiences who have come to expect having their needs met online,” said Bell. “The Congressional Management Foundation congratulates Senator Cornyn for having a Web site that is among the best-of-the-best on Capitol Hill, and we are pleased to present Senator Cornyn with the 2007 Gold Mouse Award.”

“The 2007 report shows that Web sites are an increasingly critical channel through which Members and congressional committees can communicate with, and hear from, citizens. The Internet is a vital tool for elected officials and the public to use in the give-and-take of ideas and opinions that has characterized the American form of government since its founding” Bell said.

Web sites were graded on how well they incorporate five basic building blocks which extensive research identified as critical for effectiveness: audience, content, usability, interactivity, and innovation. Using these building blocks, an evaluation framework was developed by CMF and their research partners at Harvard, Ohio State, and the University of California-Riverside which would be fair and objective while still taking into account important qualitative factors that affect a visitor's experience on a Web site.

A full copy of the report, "The 2007 Gold Mouse Report: Lessons from the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill", is available on the Congressional Management Foundation’s Web site at http://www.cmfweb.org. 

Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee’s Airland subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.

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