NY: Drum Major Leads

New York's Drum Major Institute deserves high marks for ingenuity. Today, they're proving that in a new way. They've released a new scorecard rating legislators from 2001 to 2005 on a whole host of issues affecting the middle class: insurance fraud, fair wages, college tuition, day care, and health care. Of course, putting out a scorecard is nothing new. Many groups across the country do it. Drum Major's report card may be exciting in the way it cuts across issue divides, but even that isn't the most interesting thing they've done. In fact, even though they've got by far the nicest web presentation of a scorecard I've ever seen, even that isn't what's unique. What's unique is the way they are promoting the findings. Usually when a scorecard comes out, it goes to members of the organization, the press, and a handful of political insiders. All of these people would guess the scores to begin with. DMI is doing something different. They've purchased Google Ads for every New York legislator, so when you look for your Assemblyman or woman, you also are inevitably looking up how well she or he voted on middle-class issues.