Listservs push political talk

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on July 14, 2006

When Amherst Select Board member Hwei-Ling Greeney wanted to drum up support for a School Committee candidate, and get voters on her side of the recent soccer field debate, she got on the phone.

I called thousands of people, Greeney said.

And yet Greeney - who had secured her own seat on the Select Board a year before by knocking on doors - came up short.

A group of parents using an email listserv out-organized her, Greeney said. 'Next time I'm going to have to be very technically savvy.'

Like them or find them annoying, listservs have become a powerful tool in Amherst.

Somewhat similar to a newsgroup or forum, listservs allow email to be automatically broadcast to everyone on the list while being closed to the public.

Besides a Town Meeting listserv, begun in 2003, there is now a 'concerned parents' listserv; the Wildwood Wire, named after the elementary school; the town Democratic party listserv and a loose group of civic-minded email correspondents that doesn't have a name. There is also new Town Meeting member Stephanie O'Keeffe's well regarded blog StephanieTownMeeting.blogspot.com, home to some very lively discussions.

Much as is happening on the national level, advocates of certain positions or candidates are using the email lists and Web sites to disseminate information and advance their agendas. It's faster than knocking on doors or telephoning hundreds or even thousands of people, as Greeney found out. She calls the listservs 'a force to be contended with.'

Contributors to the Town Meeting listserv and O'Keeffe's blog say Town Meeting members came to the most recent round of sessions much more informed about the subjects at hand, thanks to the email exchanges beforehand.

'I just thought that Town Meeting was actually more exciting this year. There is much more public policy talk in town, much more dialogue this year than there was in years past and there's also more of an identification of Town Meeting members with particular points of view, ' said Town Meeting member Richard Morse, a frequent poster at O'Keeffe's blog.

As Morse sees it, there are two political parties in town - the party that usually sides with the current Select Board and 'the loyal opposition.' He says the loyal opposition, thanks in no small part to the listservs, is rapidly maturing. 'We've actually been talking about candidates' to challenge incumbent board members, Morse said.

Listserv and blog devotee Larry Kelley agrees they have had a positive impact in town. 'As long as information is getting exchanged, that's a good thing,' he says.

Others question whether there can be too much of a good thing. At the Town Meeting listserv started by Select Board loyalist Mary Streeter, Janet Chevan has argued that contributors should confine their remarks to issues directly related to Town Meeting.

'One of the things that I became annoyed with is that people continue to send very lengthy, scientific columns on the genetically modified food issue,' Chevan said. 'It's a valuable site. The key is people need to be judicious about what they post and not be too verbose.'

In response to her critique, some members of the listserv said they would form another group for members interested in ranging further afield. It would serve as a complement to the Town Meeting listserv.

At her blog, O'Keeffe also mulled whether enough was enough, once Town Meeting finally concluded after 12 sessions. Although her readers heaped praise upon her for her articulate, blow-by-blow accounts of what transpired, she concluded that she would cut back on her commentary considerably - until the next Town Meeting. 'We definitely don't want this to devolve into 'Stephanie's random thoughts on everything,' O'Keeffe wrote.

Still, she urged other Town Meetings members to start their own blogs. 'Yours wouldn't have to be the same format as mine - you don't need to recap everything unless you want to,' O'Keeffe said.

So far, there have been no takers, though.

'For the record: I love your blog and/but do not plan to start one of my own. Why should people be encouraged to do so?' former Select Board member Eva Schiffer responded at O'Keeffe's blog. 'How much more time should we all be spending on these virtual conversations, no matter how delightful and instructive? There's still a real world out there, even though it's raining outside and nice and dry inside!'

Mary Carey can be reached at mcarey@gazettenet.com.