I’ve been continuing my quest to make Idaho Insider at the Gem State Chronicle the most useful one-stop shop for political engagement possible. By migrating various components of the legislator profiles to the back end, I’ve not only made updates far easier but also opened up many more possibilities for presenting information.
To that end, I’ve created pages for each legislative committee. Each committee page includes a short description of the committee’s role, a list of members with thumbnails and links to their Idaho Insider profiles, a live video window that will be active during the legislative session, as well as information about schedules, the committee secretary, and links to agendas and video archives.
Standing committees are mostly complete, and I’ve started work on the joint committees, with plans for the interim committees as well.
Perhaps the most important feature of the new committee page is a big red button near the top that will email the entire committee with one click. Many PACs and organizations provide services allowing you to send prewritten or custom messages to legislators. However, in nearly every case, doing so logs your email address (and potentially your IP address) with the website. Many organizations use messaging services or petitions as a method of harvesting email addresses for their mailing lists.
That’s standard procedure in politics, and there’s nothing wrong with it so long as users know what they’re opting into. However, I’ve chosen a different approach.
When you click the big red button to email a committee from Idaho Insider, the proper legislator emails are inserted into your own email client, allowing you to type your own subject line and message. None of that information passes through the Gem State Chronicle—it’s just like sending a message to a friend.
Since it’s not a form email, it is less likely to trigger spam filters. And because it uses your own personal email client from start to finish, there is no chance of someone spoofing your email—like what apparently happened last year when Rep. Rod Furniss allegedly received an email from himself demanding action on the grocery tax.
I’ve put similar email buttons on the legislative branch page, allowing you to email the House, the Senate, or the entire Legislature. Keep in mind that some email clients will flag messages as spam if they contain too many recipients, so use with caution. I suggest focusing on specific legislators or committees rather than blasting the entire body.
Of course, there are still email links on individual legislator profiles as well as profiles of the executive branch officers.
I’ll continue tweaking the committee pages in the coming days, so if you have any ideas for features you’d like to see, let me know. I also plan to create pages for each district, showing its three lawmakers and allowing one-click emailing from there as well. I’ve made a prototype using Legislative District 1 that you can check out now.
I’m not reinventing the wheel here, but I’m doing my utmost to make it as easy as possible for more citizens to learn about the political process and engage with our elected officials. Let me know if you can think of other features you’d like to see at Idaho Insider. With the help of ChatGPT, I’m able to create things I never could have dreamed of before. The sky is the limit.
Some have urged me to put some of these features behind a paywall, since it takes a lot of time and energy on my part to make this happen. That would defeat the purpose, however, which is to provide tools for Idahoans to be more engaged citizens. Nevertheless, if you find this platform valuable, you’re more than welcome to support it via a paid subscription, sponsorship, or direct donation.
Thank you so much for your support. Together we can build an engaged and effective movement based on time-tested traditional values that will keep Idaho Idaho for generations to come.
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About Brian Almon
Brian Almon is the Editor of the Gem State Chronicle. He also serves as Chairman of the District 14 Republican Party and is a trustee of the Eagle Public Library Board. He lives with his wife and five children in Eagle.
