Let's do the time warp, agaaaaaain
By Jim Dallas
Atrios scooped us (pooey) on Joe Barton's use of the franking privilege to send mail-outs to constituents he doesn't represent; apparently this redistricting thing has got even the Republicans confused!
In short -- frank is meant for office-holders to write back home to the people that voted for (or against) them in the last election, not to potential future voters. Writing to potential future voters is what we in the politics business call "campaigning" (yes, Joe, I know it's a big word, but that's why they pay us the big bucks). And using public resources for that purpose without any other good excuse* is considered to be unethical.
If nothing else, this is yet another reason to vote for Morris Meyer -- he knows what time it is.
* Yes, just about every representatve and Senator uses the franking privilege to score political brownie points, but it's usually justified along the same lines that stockholders' reports are -- you gotta let the people that voted for (or against) you know what you're doing with their public trust. If a public company were to mail stockholders' reports to people who do not (yet) own their stock, I'd imagine that the SEC would deem that "advertising," wouldn't you?
Posted by Jim Dallas at July 3, 2004 10:17 AM
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