Last December, Michael Spence, Montana's chief medical officer, got an unexpected piece of mail. It was a Christmas card from the management of the Super 8 motel in Libby, Montana--a reminder of just how much time he had spent in the small town more than 300 miles away from his office in the state capitol of Helena.

Some cities have long had an appealingly simple answer to urban problems: annex their way out of them. The problem of cities, they say, is that affluent suburbs have surrounded them, so the secret is to annex those areas before they can incorporate.

Amnesty and forgiveness are two different things. Amnesty is indiscriminate--the canceling of debt, obligation or penalty not out of a desire for individual justice but out of a belief that there is something to be gained by simply wiping the slate clean.

When the governor or mayor comes from the IT business world, it makes implementing e-government easier--at least it should.

The lack of good information to help voters make intelligent decisions on ballot measures is startling.