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Adapting a successful state watchdog effort, the Progressive Democrats of Cambridge (Mass.) (PDC) has begun the Cambridge Scorecard to track the votes and statements of local elected officials in that city. The Cambridge Scorecard follows the Mass Scorecard, which Progressive Democrats of Cambridge was instrumental in creating in 2003. The Mass Scorecard – called the "Accountabililty Amendment" when it was passed by the Democratic State Convention -- made the voting records of state legislators readily available to the public for the first time. Similarly, the Cambridge Scorecard will report on the issue stances of elected municipal officials. The Cambridge Scorecard will initially track the 15 elected members of the Cambridge City Council and the School Committee. PDC hopes the Cambridge Scorecard will bring greater accountability to municipal-level elected officials, whose stances on critical issues otherwise would mostly not be reported to voters except in the officials' own campaign materials.
In order to succeed at its task, the Cambridge Scorecard will recruit "issue captains" to monitor municipal meetings and record what elected officials are saying. Recruiting issue captains on all of the city's key issues will allow PDC to interact with issue-oriented organizations from around the city. In this way, the Cambridge Scorecard will be a means of involving the public in municipal issues, as well as building and maintaining strong relationships among organizations that have overlapping interests.
The Cambridge Scorecard will be available on line at www.CambridgeScorecard.org. PDC's web site is www.PdCambridge.org. The Mass Scorecard is available on line at www.MassScorecard.org. The web site engine for both scorecards is provided by the Speakout Foundation, whose web site is at www.OnTheIssues.org. For more information about the Scorecard and guidance in setting up scorecards in other districts contact .
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