As for the why, 2600 says: "Our very first issue in 1984 contained a list of govt employees. This is the kind of thing we do."
To your point, publishing contact details for a good reason, giving people incentive to reach out to their voted representatives to demand legislative change, for example, sounds like a reasonable cause and should be encouraged.
What we saw that was a group of people saying "Here is a list of individuals and their details, without purpose, for the wider population to do with what they please, because we did it once in the past, in a completely different world and political landscape."
I see no valid reason as a grown-up to have a list of individuals published in one excel file for the sake of letting people know to do what they please. Others have posted here, personal lives should not be compromised with threats or other nefarious techniques because they hold employment from the general public.
Do you?