Website lets users rate Congress

~~ But will it make a difference ? Probably not.
It will be fun , but will it help shape public policy for the better ?
I doubt it .
~~~

Website lets users rate Congress

http://mobile.politico.com/story.cfm?id=21739&cat=topnews

By Victoria McGrane | 4/27/09 @ 4:21 AM EST

After 26 years spent working for the Senate, Elizabeth Letchworth knows a thing or two about Congress — including how much of a bubble it can be.

Now off Capitol Hill, Letchworth is poised to launch a new website next week that aims to keep members in touch with the rest of the country. Gradegov.com will allow users to give individual members a letter grade, A through F. The site will display each lawmaker’s average, as well as breakdowns by political party and by grades sent by voters who actually live in a member’s district.

“The more and more pundits you have, [and] it seems like everybody now does a poll, it seems like we’ve lost the American public’s ability to just say it in their own words,” said Letchworth, who worked for the Senate from 1975 to 2001, rising from a page to become the first woman Republican secretary of the Senate, an elected officer of the chamber.