Giving the people what they want -- straight talk

One by one, people walked down the aisles of National Heritage Museum's auditorium in Lexington earlier this month to offer their pointed questions and comments on same-sex marriage.

"Why is the state involved in marriage?" one woman asked a legislator on stage.

"I am really confused about what we are talking about," another woman said. "Marriage is a loving union. You can't legislate that."

A woman who identified herself as a conservative and a lesbian said: "This is not a cerebral question. . . . Why do you draw the line at me?"

Controlling the microphone that night was state Representative Jay Kaufman, who had brought together a panel of lawmakers, lawyers, doctors, and a lesbian mother from Lexington to partake in a debate that alternated professorial comments with sarcastic laughter, and occasional shouts.

"I imagine this conversation will be taken outside of this room . . . and continue for the rest of our adult lives," Kaufman said at the end of the program, which ran nearly an hour past its scheduled time of two hours.

More than 100 people attended this installment of Kaufman's Open House series, many in hopes of persuading legislators and other panelists to understand their point of view. Though Barbara Hills, a retired psychologist and a Lexington artist, concluded, "I'm doubtful that many minds were changed today," she said the exchanges were valuable.

Public officials and public-policy advocates appear often on radio and television, but personal interaction with groups of constituents is rare. Kaufman's series, which is televised on cable access stations in 20 communities, is an attempt to bridge that gap.

No other legislator in Massachusetts has used such a tool to bring state policy issues -- as well as its advocates -- to his constituents. Kaufman, has been bringing such discussions to voters in Woburn, Lexington, and Arlington since he joined the House in 1995 and has gained a visibility that many other elected officials would covet.

Media observers say people increasingly want to hear the unfiltered voices of elected officials; settings such as Kaufman's provide this, as well as a feeling of communal interaction. Presidential hopefuls, most notably former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, have responded by using such tools as weblogs, the online journals that allow people to write comments, interact with one another, and hear news directly from the campaigners.

People want the "unedited voice" of officials whom they normally cannot reach, said John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. "People have a latent desire to be involved in building communities around ideas and action."

Kaufman is an innovator for having started in 1995 what is still "a pretty early trend," Palfrey said.

But Kaufman said his program is less a cutting-edge medium than an extension of his life in education before he became a legislator. "This is a classroom, we all get to learn in it -- a community conversation series where the people are at the front of the room and help steer the conversation," said Kaufman, who has taught courses on public education policy at Brandeis University, and was the director of a consortium of colleges and universities aimed at developing environmental policies.

The program won the Cable Television Public Affairs Association's Beacon Award in 1997 as the nation's best government relations series.

Kaufman expects to have held 75 of his monthly programs by the end of the year, and hopes to double the pace next year so that he can commemorate his 10th season with the 100th show.

The question is whether he can keep them as timely and evocative as the March program on gay marriage.

At that session, state Representative Philip Travis, a Rehoboth Democrat, defended his proposal to amend the state constitution to define marriage as being between a man and woman. Representative Byron Rushing, a Boston Democrat, defined gay marriage as the civil right of a minority group that should be protected by lawmakers and not placed for public judgment through a ballot question.

Kaufman has an impressive list of guest panelist for his shows. Thomas M. Finneran has talked about his tenure as House speaker; former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger about crime and punishment; Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley about families in crisis and the law; Robert Durand, former secretary of environmental affairs, on protecting the environment; and Robert Reich, former US secretary of labor, on income, about community and politics.

Open House sessions consistently draw 25 to 50 people to their regular venue of the National Heritage Museum, said Kaufman, who recalls the time 400 people packed the auditorium when representatives of the Massachusetts Port Authority discussed Hanscom Field.

William Mayer, a political science professor at Northeastern University, said Kaufman's series might be suitable for some people because they can get a great deal of information from such interaction. Although "there are a lot of venues available where people could get high-quality information," Mayer said, they may not set aside time to use such mainstream resources as newspapers and television.

Palfrey said settings like Kaufman's work because "increasingly, people want a way to reenergize the dialogue" on topics that are on their minds, and to get "full disclosure" of what politicians are saying.

That rings true to Jan Mazur, a visual artist who has lived with her partner for 17 years in Arlington and never attended an Open House until this month. "I have never been politically active at all, never written letters to my representative," she said, but "this is my fight."

"It makes a huge difference to see who's talking and to be able to evaluate who they are and where they are coming from -- that probably would not come across in a newspaper article," she said.

"I think it's very important when you hear people speaking articulately about the things you yourself believe in," Mazur said. "It makes you feel more confident and more connected and that you are not all alone in the world for how you feel."

The next Open House program is scheduled for April 15, with state Representative Jim Marzili discussing "Environmental Stress, Environmental Opportunity." The program is free and begins at 7:30 p.m. at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington. Information is available from Kaufman's office at 617-722-2552.