If You Release It, You Can Spin It

Dennis Johnson makes an interesting point in Congress Online about the reluctance of some members to put information on their voting record on their congressional website:

One complaint was that legislators do not want to give ammunition to potential campaign challengers by providing ready-made research on their voting record. This, however, was a false rationale. As a formerr candidate and opposition researcher, I could simply say that any researcher worth his or he salt could easily obtain far more complete information about voting records, impact of votes, cost of programs, and other vital information from sources not even remotely connected to the legislator's official website (p. 136).

I'd certainly have to agree with Denny J on this one: an elected official isn't going to stop many opposition researchers simply by refusing to post information that is available elsewhere in the public record. "Bad" votes will be discovered and publicized regardless of how easy the elected official makes it to find the information.

But perhaps more importantly, by attempting to hide such information the elected official loses the ability to spin the information in advance of a potential campaign. By giving an explaination of why the elected official voted as she did when the actual vote occurs, she is able to frame her vote in advantageous terms; and by getting the information out quickly, she can influence contemporary accounts of the vote and help set the conventional wisdom as to why she voted the way she did.

It will always be better for campaigning purposes if a vote is spun before it becomes an issue rather than after an opponent makes a big deal of it. If a campaign staff is put on the defensive and is made to defend a vote that has never really been addressed by the candidate, suspicion will arise that the current justification is being made up at the current time. But if the elected official released her reasons for voting for the bill when the vote occured, the campaign staff will be able to look back at this advantageously-framed justification and its prior existence will legitimize it.

Johnson also makes a good point about posting the elected official's schedule: by describing her schedule in advantagous terms, constituents will be less likely to think that the official is living easy on the voters' dime.

While some officials may worry about presenting too much information, they should take advantage of the fact that all of this information will come from them, rather than ouside sources that cannot be influenced. Most of this information will get out there anyway, so you might as well couch it in a positive light from the very beginning.