A fourth grader in Elmhurst can send an email message to the Queen of England, but he can’t write the Queens Borough President.

Nor can he send an email to the great majority of Queens’ state assembly members, state senators, city council members, and Congressmen.

A Tribune study of the government’s use of information technology concluded that while the rest of the planet is rapidly incorporating the Internet into their daily lives, our officials are still fumbling around for the power switch.

However, while less than half of Queens’ officials have published email addresses, over 75 percent say their current computer setup is "sufficient for their needs."

"Why should we get email," one Assembly staffer told the Tribune. "We already get enough constituent mail as it is."

While unwilling to say so on the record, the offices of many of our elected officials agree.

"In chatting with my colleagues, I have found that they have a pervasive aversion to anything that generates more problems than they already have," said City Councilman Andrew Eristoff, one of the first Council members to give out his email address and web site. "But it is hard to be too critical of my colleagues, because despite the hype, it turns out that at the moment, not too many people avail themselves of the opportunity to use the Internet. What they do not realize is that email will eventually become as ubiquitous as the fax."

Our study found that over a third of the officials who have Internet access make a point of not publishing their email address.

"This does not bode well," said Ted Brown, chairman of the Computer Science department at Queens College. "The internet is not something to think about in the future, this is a matter for the present."

But while the prevailing attitude among our elected officials is that the Internet is unnecessary, other believe that information technology can be used to make government more democratic.

"We believe in making government as open and accessible to citizens as possible," said Chisan Lee, a spokesperson for Public Advocate Mark Green. "Every elected official should be using email in an effort to be more accessible to their constituents."

Borough President Claire Shulman’s web site provides up to the minute news of the goings on at Borough Hall, and even includes the recent State Of The Borough report. Nevertheless, Claire does not have a published email address, according to Shulman spokesman Dan Andrews.

But aside from the government, much of the borough has made the jump to cyberspace. The Queens Borough Public Library has an extensive web site, which allows users to check the stacks from the privacy of their own home.

Queens College and St. John’s University’s web sites offer information on events happening at this schools.

So why don’t our officials take advantage of the power of the World Wide Web to inform their constituents of the issues they are working on?

The fault, say the not so Internet savvy, lies with the leadership of these legislative bodies.

"Sheldon Silver has done very little to help get the Assembly members on line," said one Assembly staffer.

Silver did not return calls for comment.

City Council Speaker Peter Vallone added that when it comes to the Internet, it’s everyone for himself.

"The City Council is constantly updating and upgrading to fit the needs of the staff," said a spokesperson for Vallone. "Technology is very important and it helps the City Council do their job. I can’t speak for other officials about email addresses, but this office has one."

Several of the officials surveyed said they had to take it upon themselves to get online.

However, these officials added that the cost of Internet access (generally $20 a month) is significantly less than what they spend on postage.

Many of the newly elected officials across the borough said they were surprised at the technologically backward conditions of their office when they arrived.

"But we’re going to change this," said a spokesperson for Congressman Joe Crowley. "We want to be as technologically savvy as possible."

"This office is obsolete," said a spokesperson for State Senator Dan Hevesi. "The Senator is very frustrated. He has expressed to the people in charge of computers that he wants something done."

Even some of the old timers seemed frustrated with the situation.

"I serve thousands of people," said State Senator Alton Waldon. "And they only give me two computers."

"The computers in the schools are much better than the government’s," said a spokesperson for Council member Sheldon Leffler. "There are computers in our office that are 10 years old."

State Senator Leonard Stavisky went as far to say that under the Pataki administration, Republican officials now have better equipment than their democratic counterparts.

"Basically, we feel there needs to be parity between the Democrats and Republicans," Stavisky told the Tribune.

It seems that even the officials who have made a point of getting an email address neglect to check on a regular basis. The Tribune sent a message out to 15 officials and not one replied at press time (over 48 hours later).