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DSU Alumnus Has Role in Award Winning Congressional Website

The non-partisan Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) has issued their 2007 Gold Mouse Report: Lessons from the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill. The report evaluates all Member, committee, and leadership Web sites and recognizes the best Congressional Websites with Mouse Awards. 

South Dakota Senator John Thune’s site was ranked number one out of 99 Senate websites by the CMF, earning the prestigious Gold Mouse award. The site is managed and maintained by Dakota State University graduate Nic Budde, class of 2004. Budde is responsible for getting content for the site from the legislative staff on specific issues and posting all content to the web site.

This is the third time Senator Thune’s website has been recognized by the CMF. In the report, Thune’s site was described as one that was consistently maintained, content-rich, innovated and up to date. Budde is quoted in the report as saying, “the Web site is an extension of our office. Creating and maintaining content for it is just as important…as anything else [we] do….Each month and after major actions in the Senate, we revisit key areas of the Web site to ensure that the information posted is still relevant,” said Budde.

Information about Senator Thune’s Web site can be found at http://thune.senate.gov/public/.

Information from the CMF report on Senator Thune's Web site can be found on the following pages in the full report: 18, 52, 56, 60, and 76, and is available at http://www.cmfweb.org.