in Houston, Texas

The message that came in to my Facebook inbox made me sit up and take note.

“Stop This Bad Legislation Now - Immediate Response Needed,” it said.

It was from Keith Elkins. So I opened it.

“In a matter of hours this legislation” he wrote – referring to a bill in the state legislature that would close off public access to state employees’ dates of birth -- "could be approved by members of the State Senate Affairs Committee ... It is bad news for Texas taxpayer! Please email or call these senators' offices NOW urging members to vote NO! It's a matter of the Public's Right to Know!!!!!!!”

It wasn't just another message on Facebook. It was another sign that the movement for freedom of information in Texas has new tools in its arsenal -- and a new warrior to wield them.

As the new executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, the Elkins has moved quickly to raise the foundation’s profile via the Internet and social networking sites, including Twitter and a new FOIFT blog. And with legislation starting to move on Capitol Hill during Texas’ every-other-year legislative session, the longtime Austin newsman is using the power of the Web to rally supporters to the cause.

“I think, by utilizing Twitter and Facebook and some of the other applications, that not only can we build up a presence of followers that are interested in the issue, but also be able to push information out to them quicker,” Elkins told me in a recent phone interview. “If something’s going on at the Capitol, for example, I can use Twitter to reach out to members that have indicated that they want freedom-of-information information, and either request from them a call to action about a particular piece of legislation, or an event, or just keep them up to date.”

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FOIFT’s Facebook page has 570 members (honest disclosure: That includes me) as I write this. It now has a Twitter presence (TXFOIFT). It also has an updated “Legislative Updates” page to keep track of FOI-related bills moving on the Hill. On the blog, where Elkins recently posted about a compromise reached with TxDOT that would allow raw traffic accident data to be released, while still protecting the involved drivers’ privacy.

A former reporter for KEYE-TV in Austin, Elkins took the helm of FOIFT earlier this year when it moved its headquarters from Dallas to Austin, taking over for former executive director Katherine Garner.

His work to get out the word about the foundation via the Web earned him praise from both FOIFT president Laura Lee Prather and Austin American-Statesman editor Fred Zipp.

“Boy, he's hit the ground running,” Zipp said. “He’s started us a Facebook page, he’s been Twittering, he’s working the halls in the legislature. He’s moving on all fronts.”

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