By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
New Jersey’s Democrat U.S. Senate incumbent kicks off his reelection campaign this afternoon with a 3-stage event schedule; you and I both know it’s been underway for some time… partially with John and Jane Doe Taxpayers’ cash.
Between 1997 and 2007 alone, Save Jerseyans, members of the U.S. House of Representatives “sent 1.24 billion pieces of mass mail
at a total postage cost of $199.3 million” to their constituents.
Both parties use (or abuse, as many believe) the “franking privilege” by which they can send us mailing touting their alleged achievements – produced with our tax dollars – and send without postage through the Postal Service. Some politicians’ franking activities are more egregious than others.
There are plenty of rules governing proper use (more here); based solely upon a visual inspection of the latest piece from Senator Cory Booker (D-Twitter), I have no reason to conclude he didn’t follow the rules though, truth be told, the fact that this mailer’s branding (see the logo) precisely matches his campaign logo should certainly raise someone’s eyebrows.
All the same, you would think Mr. Transparency, also one of the Senate’s most prolific fundraisers, would at least blush sending out thousands of dollars (or more) worth of mail back to New Jersey, paid for by us, particularly at a time when the federal budget is ready to burst? I don’t, however, because I do know better.
He’s full of it, just like the rest of him. He’s got plenty of time to spend our money (and rack up over 40,000 tweets) but can’t fulfill his basic governmental responsibilities. You don’t earn points for me just because you’re more talented at lying about it.
I hope you criticize Scott Garrett, a prolific franker, for doing the same.
I was just about to say that Scott Garrett does the same thing.