Nonprofit group rates congressional leadership Web sites poorly for user friendliness Many of the Web sites for members of the U.S. Congress lack basic information such as information on office hours or where to go if the reader has problems with a federal agency, according to a report released Monday.The overall state of congressional Web sites is “disappointing,” said the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit group advocating for a more effective Congress. The group gave only about 14 percent of the 615 lawmaker and congressional leadership Web sites it surveyed A grades for user friendliness. The top group of A-graded sites earn CMF’s Gold Mouse award.Thirteen percent of the congressional sites received F grades, and another 25 percent received D’s. “It’s things that are missing, things that aren’t updated,” said Beverly Bell, CMF’s executive director. In many cases, congressional offices seem to see Web sites as one-way communication mediums, she said.About 49 percent of the sites did not include sufficient information on how to contact the office about a problem with a federal agency, CMF said in its report. Just over 26 percent told visitors the best way to communicate with their offices, and 32 percent did not include links to sponsored or cosponsored legislation.Just 11 percent of House Web sites and 5 percent of Senate Web sites posted their office hours. “It’s how you view your Web site,” Bell added. “Are you seeing your Web site as a service center for constituents? There’s not as much of that as we’d like to see. Or, are you seeing it as one big press release for yourself?”CMF produced two previous reports, in 2002 and 2003. Only three lawmakers have received awards in each of the Gold Mouse Reports: Representative Mike Honda, a Democrat representing part of Silicon Valley in California, Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, and Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat known for his interest in tech issues.But overall, Republican sites scored higher than Democratic sites, with 66 percent of Republican sites scoring at least a C compared to 56 percent of Democratic sites. In some cases, lawmakers seem to believe that Web sites create more work for their staffs, and congressional staffs haven’t substantially increased in size since the 1970s, Bell said. But a well-designed Web site can reduce workload by cutting telephone calls from constitutions about information such as sponsored legislation or visitor tours, she said.The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the University of California-Riverside, and Ohio State University assisted CMF with the report. Software Development