Lady Gaga, Rep. Jared Polis, and 5 Tips for Pols Who Twitter

My congressman tweeted about Lady Gaga's new video last week, calling it "AMAZING."

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the queen of glam. But if I want advice on hot new videos, well, I'm kinda thinking it should be from someone other than my congressman, Rep. Jared Polis, (D-Colo.)
In his tweet, Polis links to the Lady Gaga video, described as the "official explicit version" of her new hit, "Telephone," with singer Beyonce. The 9-minute Gaga saga begins with the Lady being stripped by prison guards and and tossed in a cell and then, well . . . Warning: Not Safe For Work. Polis should have included the NSFW tag, too. Because there's plenty more skin, some serial killing, lots of dance moves and shout-outs to "Kill Bill" and "Thelma and Louise." (Need an analysis? The Atlantic's got it.)

Tweeting allows Polis to stay in touch with both friends and constituents, he wrote to me in an e-mail. Those constituents include charter-school fans and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

"if there are stodgy conservatives among my charter school followers then they would benefit from a dose of Gaga," wrote Polis, who represents Colorado's liberal 2nd District. "And I want my LGBT friends to know about education policy!"

Polis is the first openly gay man elected to Congress. He became a multimillionaire after developing and selling an online version of his parents' greeting card business, and he has spent considerable sums on his campaigns and those of others. He been known to annoy liberal allies with his charter school devotion, among other stances

Polis attended a Gaga concert in New York in January and tweeted about it.

"She's an artistic genius and has a great voice!" he wrote.




Polis isn't alone in tweeting what might be considered off-congressional-topic info.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, spent considerable time last week tweeting about high school and college basketball games, a huge pastime in my home state.

But when he referred to college players as "girls" twice in one tweet, well, there was some tweetback.

"I believe they're women, Senator," one follower replied to Grassley.

Polis, on the other hand, actually got plenty of Twitter props for passing along the Lady Gaga link (complete with hashtags).

But such tweets make one wonder: What exactly is the protocol for tweeting by politicians?

Well, let me step up to the plate with some pointers, resting assured that you, dear commenters, and Rep. Polis, may beg to differ.

It's public, yo! Colorado State Sen. Dave Schultheis got some laughs last fall when he realized -- OMG! -- that folks from the left might be following his tweets and those of other conservatives. His advice? "Scrub your 'followers' I blocked three more today," he tweeted, one of his last tweets before taking his account private. Defeating the purpose of communicating with your constituents? Sure, unless your constituents must meet a litmus test (are you sufficiently conservative?) to qualify as your constituents.

If it's about your constituents, interact with them. On this front, my man Polis does interaction right -- we had a decent back-and-forth on health care reform via direct Twitter messages last summer. He's got 4,600 followers and follows 116 folks (so happy to be in the company of Colbert there!). But that's 115 more folks than Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is following. McCaskill explained why she doesn't follow folks in a blog post last week, saying she reads all tweets directed at her, but would be overwhelming to follow so many Twitter streams. And her logic makes sense -- take a look at her Twitter feed, and she is responding to many tweets aimed at her. Contrast that with Nevada GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Polis' partner in CNN's Freshman Year series). He may follow 9,928 folks, but he hasn't tweeted @ anyone publicly in the last month. It's a many-to-many world, pols, and the American people want to interact with you!
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Grammar, spelling? Pretty please? I'm talkin' to you, Chuck Grassley! Yes, we all know that 140 characters is limiting. But really, you could do some self-editing to avoid spelling school as "skool" (twice!). A tip: When New York Times columnist Gail Collins goes out of her way to make fun of your tweets, it's either time to clean them up or hand the Blackberry over to an assistant and let him or her type.

Self-Promotional YouTube Videos, Complete With Numerous Talking Points = Boring, Boring, Boring.
Enough with the Fox News YouTube clips, Rep. Paul Braun ( R-Ga.) Ditto with the YouTube'd floor speech, Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.) (We get C-SPAN. But we'd rather watch March Madness.) Far more entertaining and effective was Wyoming Republican Rep. Cynthia Lummis' live-tweeting of the health care markup. Reps. Braun and Sullivan, if you're going to do videos, just know that Lady Gaga is more entertaining than your YouTube tirades.

It's OK to share -- some. Like when Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., broke his ankle on at Christmas Day run. But Rep. Chaffetz, do we need to know quite so much about your recent trip to Five Guys Burgers and Fries? (Hope there's no FTC disclosure needed there!)

And that Lady Gaga thing? Well, I can't wait to see that one show up in a campaign ad come fall.