Editorial for August 2, 2007 edition:


Get it out in the open

Is Mark Cohen blazing new trails in cyberspace, a path of communication between politicians and The People? It just may be so.
As you may have seen from our cover story this week, the veteran Pennsylvania lawmaker has been spending a considerable amount of his precious time on the popular Phillyblog.com Web site, where he speaks out on a host of issues and solicits public opinion.
Mr. Cohen is perhaps the best-known participant on Phillyblog and he deserves lots of credit for having the intestinal fortitude to state his opinions out in the open for all to see.
The Internet isn’t just for the young anymore. Every kid and his grandma have home computers and they’re not afraid to use it. Keeping in touch via the Internet, including its many Web logs ("blogs"), continues to grow in popularity.
By the way, Mr. Cohen’s habit of attending only community meetings to which he is invited makes as much sense as the fact that not a single brave soul stepped forward to run against him last year. As a public servant, he has a standing invitation to attend any and all community meetings in his district.
Meanwhile, with the way technology has advanced, Mr. Cohen and his fellow movers and shakers in Harrisburg should see to it that every move they make is captured on the Internet. After all, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
(Sadly, two years after Mr. Cohen voted for the illegal legislative pay raises, the passage of time has been kind to him — too many people have forgotten about that scam.)
Thanks to the ability of politicians like Mr. Cohen to speak out via the Internet, chat rooms, blogs, etc., the public can get the transparency that it so richly deserves.
In cyberspace, as Mark Cohen might tell you, the sky’s the limit. ••

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