Did you recently receive the high quality, color,11" x 17" tri-fold brochure from our new congressman? The one that was titled "Congressman Tom Perriello Putting Virginia on the Road to Economic Recovery?" The one that looked and read like a campaign piece? I was thinking he must have had a considerable sum left in his campaign fund, but then I noticed - in fine print - it said, "This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense."
That takes a lot of nerve, don't you think? I have written a letter to the local editors and have emailed a request to Mr. Perriello that our household names be removed from any future taxpayer-paid mailings. Please join me? Forward this to your friends and neighbors. Let's get together and and save some of our tax dollars.
http://www.perriello.house.gov/
Danville Office - (434) 791-2596
Washington, D.C. Office - (202) 225-4711
2 comments:
Strange, right? But this practice, called "franking" mail is a regular part of the process. Congressman Goode used it, your state Delegates and Senators use it.
It's just one of the many advantages incumbency has to offer.
Now, there is a good intent behind it: The idea is to let our representatives keep us abreast of what they are doing, and what our government is doing for us. They're prohibited from using any overt partisan or electoral messaging, and they can't send it within a certain time period before an election--but it doesn't make re-election harder, that's for sure.
In this case, I'm inclined to think that Congressman Perriello is doing what he's expected to do within the system he finds himself navigating. But I think we can all agree that our democratic process would be healthier if incumbency tilted the scales a little bit less.
I understand the franking priviledge that all share. However, Congressman Goode did NOT use it OR the MRA (Member Representation Allowance)as a campaign tool. (Congressman Goode actually turned back $.5M of the MRA in one recent year.) His wife tells me in the beginning he did a couple of information-gathering mailings - surveys - as his predecessor had done and was requested of him by his constituents. There is a big difference in that and truly informative mailings and the ones we've received from Perriello, which are totally self-serving.
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