Tribune Directory Updated to Include 2011 Lege Staffers

We compiled our directory 18 months ago — well before our November 2009 launch — with the goal of aggregating personal and political data about Texas' top elected officials. The idea was to give the public and the political insider a free tool that makes government more accessible. It's been one of our more popular data-driven features, with nearly 500,000 views since launch.

We've updated the directory this week to include the names and e-mail addresses of 2011 legislative staffers now that the House Research Organization has released a complete list.

Compiling the information in an app is, of course, an imperfect and time-consuming process, and one that is almost never complete, given the nature of government. We gathered data from legislative offices, from interviews, from officials biographies, etc. We may have missed details, or gotten a few wrong, which is why we need help in keeping the data current. We're asking staffers and officials for additions, corrections and changes to the database so the Directory can remain a valuable and accurate listing. 

Sending us your changes is easy by using our data feedback form — or by selecting the "Report an error or suggest a change" link at the top right of each official's page. We'll do our best to make the changes quickly.

Having 18 months of analytics on the data also offers us an interesting glimpse into the interests of our site's visitors. As one might expect, traffic to this part of the site peaked around the primary and general elections — and the start of the legislative session. We also know who's most viewed: Rick Perry, whose page has been viewed more than 10,000 times since we launched (former Houston mayor and unsuccessful gubernatorial challenger Bill White's page received about 2,500 views). State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, is the most-viewed legislator, followed by House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio; Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball; Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Marshall; Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth; and Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston.

Let us know if you have feedback or ideas for other data-related content, and be sure to follow @TribData on Twitter for updates.