Clay Johnson, formerly of the Sunlight Foundation, wrote in his blog last week that "online petitions are a sham." He even used some of our data about congressional mail volumes to help make his point. While I think that he makes some really keen observations and puts his finger on some of the key challenges, not all online advocacy is the same.

The Congressional Management Foundation has done research with both the senders (citizens) and the receivers (congressional offices) and majorities of both believe that advocacy campaigns are good for our country. In fact, 73% of internet users who had contacted Congress in the last five years confirmed that they thought advocacy campaigns were good for Democracy. On the Hill, 53% of the congressional staff that responded to our survey confirmed that even they (the ones on the front lines of helping Members manage communications) thought that advocacy campaigns directed at Congress were a good thing.

What's more, our survey of internet users found that interest groups played an integral role in how citizens learn about and communicate with Congress. Citizens join interest groups, visit their websites, and participate in their online petitions to learn about the issues they care about and to take collective action. However, interest groups need to realize that they occupy a key role in the connection between their activists and the Members of Congress who represent them. With that role comes responsibility. On the Hill, congressional staff do not have the tools that they need to quickly distill meaning from the overwhelming volume of communications that they receive on any given day.

Clay is right that there are bad actors that don't have the facilitation of genuine dialogue as their primary motivation. However, we can't let a minority of interest groups negate the critical and valuable—both to citizens and Congress—role that interest groups and grassroots advocates play. He's also right that there are currently some significant obstacles to meaningful communication.

It is specifically because there are these challenges, that we recently launched The Partnership For a More Perfect Union to help improve the relationship and communication between citizens and Members of Congress. Through the Communicating with Congress Project we are seeking ways to improve the channel of communication between citizens and their elected officials because it's good for citizens, Members, and democracy.