How can we get our local politicians and other public servants to post regularly in this forum?

I've been asked by a shyer member to put up this topic in the hope that more people will contribute their ideas and strategies, inspired by Michael Andersen's post:

Why do so few HoL members post on this site?

I think many of us want to be able to ask them stuff directly on this site (a sort of 'virtual surgery') and get a timely reply.  I'd extend that to Council Officers too. For the politicians, I suppose there are two sorts of posts we might want to make:

a) 'Business' questions/comments about things like why everyday services are not up to scratch etc.  We might have to ban things that really ought to be reported using the Councils reporting facilities, because they can't have an official and an unofficial system for dealing with litter or whatever is counter-productive. Politicians are supposed to be a conduit to power though and if we get together and press for things here and they are 'on duty' then we as a band of locals can work for beneficial change more effectively online than anywhere else. Hugh's Cash Mob for instance is an example of direct, local action that surely Cllrs want to and should be involved in - HoL discussions can create actual local change:

b) 'Political' questions about wider issues like going to war - should that be limited to our MP's though?  Do you want to read non-ward-specific views from your ward Councillor over matters they have no real control over?  The Council can declare the borough a 'Frack-Free Zone' which is an international issue, so it's not as if they are powerless but you know what I mean.

Issues like whether or not there should be cuts or could we not use our savings and borrow against our future wealth as it's so expensive and damaging to cut, cut, cut are relevant to local issues. With so little money and so many in poverty in the East - how can the rich West expect political support for even a single penny? Some Cllrs in the past have, for instance, refused to enact central government cuts and as far as I recall went to prison for it, provoking a law that means they can't simply refuse what Whitehall orders. The Chief Exec of Barnet has now moved jobs to be the Chief Exec of Haringey - do we want to create content that makes local political points as a spur to action?:

So, are those the sorts of discussions we want to have here with our reps and between ourselves?

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Some UK politicians are very 'internet-savvy'. So as to try to take the measure of our politicians, here are some Councillors who are digital award winners:

Cllr Melvyn Caplan, Westminster City Council was the driving force behind the Tri-Borough’s Customer Led Transformation Programme. This encouraged the adoption of new technologies internally, such as interactive and collaborative meeting room tools and the incorporation of mobile and tablet devices into council work, saving over £1m across the council 

Cllr Muhammed Butt, London Borough of Brent led a transformation of the way that Brent Council operates, incorporating social media into its communications, along with live-streaming of council meetings. By making digital innovation central to the council’s activity, Cllr Butt has helped to ensure that technology is utilized to protect and enhance essential services.

Cllr Stephen Canning, Braintree District Council developed and supported the concept of ‘Braintree hour’ on twitter, which encourages the promotion of local businesses to the community, as well as building community cohesion. The scheme has spread to other council throughout the region.

Cllr Theo Blackwell, London Borough of Camden lead LB Camden’s first digital strategy, encouraging collaboration and new thinking across the council, as well as building partnerships with business. Innovations at the council include coding of after school clubs, expanded public wi-fi access, peer-to-peer lending schemes, and digital inclusion work in social housing.

Cllr Tom Sleigh, City of London Council ran a successful online campaign to reinstate rubbish bins in the City of London, twenty years after they were removed following terrorist activity. He launched a similar campaign to reduce speed limits to 20Mph across the City, using social media, surveys, and innovative methods of sharing information.

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Salford Council has put HoL-like facilities on their own website - would things like this not be better:

Current discussion forums on this website:

• Are you a carer for a friend or relative?
• Are you quitting smoking?
• Dying matters
• Family history search
• Find old friends
• General discussions
• GhostCam
• Ordsall Hall Museum
• Salford Museum and Art Gallery
• Schools information

As we know that our local politicians don't post here, I'd like to simulate what our councillors/politicians might argue if they did actually post here:

1) It is a relatively low-paid job (starting salary £10,500) and there are literally thousands of meetings to go to - each ward in Haringey, for instance, has loads of community events (many in the evenings) which local Cllrs feel obliged to attend.  Apart from the work of attending numerous policy meetings and dealing with people's problems by chasing Council Officials, most Cllrs put in way more hours than they're supposed to - most have second jobs too I think, some full-time.  So, time spent HoL-typing is a dereliction of their duty to put themselves in front of local people and listen, then take up the issues raised by the face-to-face contacts they say are the only way to do 'real' politics. Be good to see a breakdown of how they spend their time on our behalf.

2) Politicians are 'people people' - all the way up the chain the paramount interaction is always stressed as being 'talking to people', even Cabinet Ministers regularly knock on doors apparently. I think this is an excuse and simply untrue today anyway. Many of the older ones just don't 'get' the internet. Claiming to be 'in touch' with the electorate gives them the chance that they often take to say 'people tell me' or 'my constituents think' when the human truth is that most politicians hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest. Ask them what the main issues are in their wards and they cite things that others would prioritise differently - it's a matter of opinion - they are not accurate surveyors - they could be better at quantifying views. Considering the main things they ignore specifically:

• Facebook: they don't consider it worth posting to Facebook for instance whereas many here would probably think they ought to. What would be better on Facebook here than there?  Many have the problem that they've already got a 'personal' Facebook page so are stuck with converting it to a 'public' page, which exposes their 'real' friends to a wider exposure than they signed up for.  Almost none of them know how to post in one place and have it 'syndicated' - they are not generally techophiles.
• Twitter: many councillors do tweet, with the result that we are drowning in Tweets that nobody really looks at and no-one outside their circle ever responds to, so this is proof in their eyes that digital is only for people with time on their hands. We could tweet our Cllrs and they would probably react, but why don't we do that? From a Cllrs point of view, trying to plan how you spend your time must be close to impossible as residents can pop up at any time 24hrs a day with an issue you need to respond to.
• Blogs: lots of work for very little measurable return. You try writing even one paragraph of political comment - it could take you all afternoon,  Risk that what you wrote might accidentally come back to haunt you or worse, that nobody at all would even bother to read it. Fierce competition from great political bloggers could make yours look pathetic.  You're imposing a liability on future Cllrs to match your output - they won't thank you for that.
• Newsfeeds - how would it be if a Cllrs auto-posted a newsfeed of all their activities on HoL (say auto-posting their tweets for instance) - do we want that? Wouldn't it be seen as a cynical bit of advertising? Would anyone subscribe to it?

4) Political posts on HoL attract 'history's greatest monster' type vitriol - people make virulent, unsubstantiated personal attacks on the character of local politicians they've never met, often barging into a topic and steering it towards hatred, racism etc.  Any politician who posts here risks a shed-load of this sort of horrible stuff from us - what's in it for the politician?  They'd need an army of clerical help to unpick each accusation and debunk it and none have that resource - if they had they'd spend it otherwise.

5) Geographically HoL is limited to Harringay. Bounds Green has an excellent HoL-type forum for example, so why would anyone from round there post here? We all know that this site reaches all of Haringey (alright, there's better coverage of the West of the borough, but it could have a lot more Eastern stuff if people would bother) but they will say the clue's in the name. There is no one forum for the whole of Haringey and why should there be?  There are no politicians who represent the whole of Haringey (discounting the 'ruling' party on the Council) - it's split by two MP's and lots of ward councillors. So, how would it work, a 'Tottenham' section on HoL for instance?

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To remind you, our local politicians are:

Tottenham: Incumbent: David Lammy MP(Labour)

prospective: any?

Hornsey and Wood Green: Incumbent: Lynne Featherstone MP(Liberal Democrat) 

Prospective: Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green,Labour):

any others?

Haringey Councillors:

Councillor

Photograph	Councillor	Political party	Ward
	Councillor David Beacham Work mobile: 07528 443838 Work: david.beacham@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Alexandra
	Councillor Liz McShane Work mobile: 07812 677729 Work: liz.mcshane@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Alexandra
	Councillor James Patterson Work mobile: 07812 677720 Work: james.patterson@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Alexandra
	Councillor Clare Bull Work mobile: 07812 677743 Work: clare.bull@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Bounds Green
	Councillor Joanna Christophides Work mobile: 07854 544697 Work: joanna.christophides@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Bounds Green
	Councillor Ali Demirci Cabinet Member for Planning Work: 020 8489 2964 (office) Work mobile: 075408 54293 Work: ali.demirci@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Bounds Green
	Councillor Joseph Ejiofor Work mobile: 07940 005507 Work: joseph.ejiofor@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Bruce Grove
	Councillor Stuart McNamara Cabinet Member for Environment Work: 020 8489 2687 (office) Work mobile: 07854 544696 Work: stuart.mcnamara@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Bruce Grove
	Councillor Felicia Opoku Work mobile: 07812 677717 Work: felicia.opoku@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Bruce Grove
	Councillor Jason Arthur Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture Work: 020 8489 2964 (office) Work mobile: 07812 677736 Work: jason.arthur@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Crouch End
	Councillor Natan Doron Work mobile: 07815 700588 Work: natan.doron@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Crouch End
	Councillor Sarah Elliott Leader of the Opposition Work mobile: 07812 677730 Work: sarah.elliott@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Crouch End
	Councillor Patrick Berryman Work mobile: 07812 677741 Work: patrick.berryman@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Fortis Green
	Councillor Martin Newton Home: 020 8489 4005 Work: martin.newton@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Fortis Green
	Councillor Viv Ross Work: 0208 444 9516 Work: viv.ross@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Fortis Green
	Councillor Gina Adamou Work: gina.adamou@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Harringay
	Councillor Emine Ibrahim Work mobile: 07812 677724 Work: emine.ibrahim@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Harringay
	Councillor James Ryan Work mobile: 07812 677710 Work: james.ryan@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Harringay
	Councillor Clive Carter Work mobile: 07812 677737 Work: clive.carter@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Highgate
	Councillor Bob Hare Home: 020 8348 2710 Work mobile: 07870 157703 Work: bob.hare@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Highgate
	Councillor Liz Morris Work mobile: 07818 094573 Work: liz.morris@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Highgate
	Councillor Adam Jogee Work mobile: 07812 677723 Work: adam.jogee@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Hornsey
	Councillor Jennifer Mann Work mobile: 07812 677727 Work: jennifer.mann@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Hornsey
	Councillor Elin Weston Work mobile: 07812 677 711 Work: elin.weston@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Hornsey
	Councillor Mark Blake Work mobile: 07812 677738 Work: mark.blake@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Muswell Hill
	Councillor Pippa Connor Chair of Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel Work mobile: 07812 677734 Work: pippa.connor@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Muswell Hill
	Councillor Gail Engert Home: 020 8489 4005 Work: gail.engert@haringey.gov.uk	Liberal Democrats	Muswell Hill
	Councillor Peray Ahmet Work mobile: 07812 677735 Work: peray.ahmet@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Noel Park
	Councillor Denise Marshall Work mobile: 07812 677721 Work: denise.marshall@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Noel Park
	Councillor Alan Strickland Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration Work: 020 8489 2964 (office) Work mobile: 07854 481050 Work: alan.strickland@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Noel Park
	Councillor Kaushika Amin Mayor of Haringey Work mobile: 07977 562105 Work: kaushika.amin@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Northumberland Park
	Councillor John Bevan Work mobile: 07967 336448 Work: john.bevan@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Northumberland Park
	Councillor Sheila Peacock Work mobile: 07967 336234 Work: sheila.peacock@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Northumberland Park
	Councillor Dhiren Basu Work mobile: 07971 804722 Work: dhiren.basu@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Seven Sisters
	Councillor Joe Goldberg Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability Work: 020 8489 2687 (office) Work mobile: 07794 218566 Work: joe.goldberg@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Seven Sisters
	Councillor Claire Kober Leader of the Council Work: 020 8489 2241 Work: claire.kober@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Seven Sisters
	Councillor Barbara Blake Chair of Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel Work mobile: 078126 77740 Work: barbara.blake@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	St Ann's
	Councillor Peter Morton Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing Work: 020 8489 2964 (office) Work mobile: 07812 677713 Work: peter.morton@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	St Ann's
	Councillor Ali Gul Ozbek Work mobile: 07812 677716 Work: aligul.ozbek@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	St Ann's
	Councillor Tim Gallagher Work mobile: 07812 677728 Work: tim.gallagher@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Stroud Green
	Councillor Kirsten Hearn Chair of Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel Work mobile: 07583 119123 Work: kirsten.hearn@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Stroud Green
	Councillor Raj Sahota Work mobile: 07812 677709 Work: raj.sahota@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Stroud Green
	Councillor Isidoros Diakides Home: 020 8340 8477 Work: isidoros.diakides@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Tottenham Green
	Councillor Makbule Gunes Work mobile: 07812 677722 Work: makbule.gunes@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Tottenham Green
	Councillor Bernice Vanier Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Communities Work: 020 8489 2241 (office) Work mobile: 07817 954961 Work: bernice.vanier@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Tottenham Green
	Councillor Vincent Carroll Work mobile: 07812 677739 Work: vincent.carroll@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Tottenham Hale
	Councillor Lorna Reith Home: 020 8376 2310 Work: lorna.reith@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Tottenham Hale
	Councillor Reg Rice Work mobile: 07854 002078 Work: reg.rice@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Tottenham Hale
	Councillor Eugene Akwasi-Ayisi Work mobile: 07812 677732 Work: eugene.akwasi-Ayisi@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	West Green
	Councillor Eddie Griffith Work mobile: 07870 157701 Work: eddie.griffith@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	West Green
	Councillor Toni Mallett Work mobile: 07870 157883 Work: toni.mallett@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	West Green
	Councillor Charles Adje Chair of Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel Home: 020 8800 7658 Work: charles.adje@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	White Hart Lane
	Councillor Gideon Bull Chair Overview & Scrutiny Committee Work mobile: 077995 86111 Work: whl@gideonbull.co.uk	Labour	White Hart Lane
	Councillor Anne Stennett Work: public no - 020 8815 9208 Work mobile: 07854 002675 Work: anne.stennett@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	White Hart Lane
	Councillor George Meehan Work mobile: 07967 336120 Work: george.meehan@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Woodside
	Councillor Ann Waters Cabinet Member for Children and Families Work: 020 8489 2687(office) Work mobile: 07854 002470 Work: ann.waters@haringey.gov.uk	Labour	Woodside

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Please, please don't make personal comments about their views, conduct, strengths, failing etc - this is a discussion about how and why we can get them to be active participants on HoL, not a chance to lambaste/praise them.