This morning Michigan Republican Congressman Vern Ehlers (wiki entry) announced his retirement from Congress. While I'll leave the reasons for that retirement to The Fix, I want to reflect a bit on why those of us in the bipartisan/non-partisan technology, politics + transparency space will always tip our hat to the good work of Congressman Ehlers.
Long-time readers of this blog will remember that I was a part of The Open House Project. Specifically, I co-authored with the Sunlight Foundation's Paul Blumental, the chapter on how out-of-date, out-of-touch and restricting Member Rules were regarding their web-use. This chapter helped facilitate much-needed Franking Rule reform a year later.
In drafting our chapter, Paul and I led with a dissenting quote from Congressman Vern Ehlers that he stated when House Franking Rules governing mailings were applied to a Members' use of the Internet to communicate with constituents:
A new medium like [the Internet] that makes it possible to send thousands of messages at virtually no additional cost should not be governed by the same rules as snail mail. I think there's no reason we should not be able to communicate nationwide or even planetwide for that matter.
--Rep. Vern Ehlers, July 1, 2000
Nearly a decade later, when the Franking Rules were finally reformed, as ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction, Ehlers said in a statement:
"[House Administration Committee Chairman] Brady recognized the need to allow enhanced constituent communication, and demonstrated outstanding leadership that enabled this Committee to adopt a long-overdue change. It is imperative that Members have the ability to use whichever web services they feel will best inform their constituents about the important issues facing this country."
Congressman Ehlers' understanding of the Internet and how it should apply to Congress is no surprise given his scientific background. Indeed, before coming to Congress in 1993 after winning a Special Election, Dr. Ehlers had a career in scientific research and teaching and was the first research physicist to serve in Congress.
But he wasn't just smart. He was, in fact, the "Smartest Congressman Ever" as labeled by Congressman Jack Kingston when Rep. Ehlers faced off with Ben Stein to "Win Jack Kingston's Onions."
So cheers to Congressman Ehlers for being a humble, visionary champion of a smarter usage of the Internet by Members of Congress.

