Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer of New York has gotten some attention for launching a “Transition: New York” website, but the New York Times report on his online venture missed the real story. It’s not that the site makes it easy for would-be job-seekers to submit their resumes directly through the site; what’s really interesting is that the site is also soliciting suggestions from New Yorkers for ideas for “bringing hope and opportunity back to New York.”
The system for submitting ideas is fairly simple–and it appears that submissions are being screened before being posted and Spitzer is collecting names and zipcodes in the process (handy, huh?). His team has already posted a healthy number of submitted ideas, and they range the gamut from fixes to the state’s Economic Development department to establishing an Office of Lesbian and Gay Concerns to requiring cabs and buses to run on natural gases.
I’d like to see Spitzer expand on this and involve visitors to his site in helping filter the suggestions that people are making, and then display the most highly rated ideas on his transition home page (a la Digg.com, if you will). It would also be cool if he, or one of his top transition aides, periodically checked in on the conversation and engaged in some back and forth with what people are saying.
Spitzer is coming into office with a huge mandate, having beaten his opponent by about 2-1, but he’s still going to be dealing with entrenched bureaucracies and powerful interests. By involving ordinary citizens in a genuine multi-way dialogue thru his web site, he could build a large independent base to help push some useful reforms through.