Months ago, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown talked about opening a dialogue with the public about how to bridge a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall over the next two years. She has faith in the voters, she's repeatedly said, and feels that when they're shown a problem with local impacts -- like a school levy -- they're willing to spend the money that it takes to fix things.

And so, Brown today launched an "online town hall" to solicit input. From the intro:

We face an unprecedented budget problem in our state, and I believe having an ongoing conversation with you is only fair. With your input, lawmakers like me can put the best solutions forward and turn our situation around.

The online town hall will allow you to ask questions about the state’s budget situation, and vote on the questions others have already submitted that you think are most important. Each day, I’ll answer the most popular questions on this blog, and in video that I’ll post online next week.

This marks the latest foray by lawmakers -- particularly Senate Democrats -- into alternative ways of getting the word out to the public. After years of issuing press releases and calling news conferences for a shrinking (and skeptical) press corps, a handful of influential lawmakers are instead dribbling out news in monologues on their legislative blogs or in interviews on TVW, the state-subsidized public affairs network. Want to know about the sales tax proposal? Check Brown's blog. Would Sen. Adam Kline vote for it? See his blog. Want to find out how much Brown's income tax plan would collect? See her appearance on TVW tonight.

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