| In January of 2008, when he announced for Congress, Erik Paulsen said, and I quote:
"Quite frankly, today, Congress as an institution, is broken and if elected I intend to help fix it."
Well, after one year - quite frankly - Erik Paulsen is playing the same games (and worse) that were played before he got there. And "frankly" is the operative word. In Congress, elected representatives have the "franking privilege" - they get to send out mailers, to the people, PAID FOR by the people.
And after a little over one year of being in congress, Erik Paulsen is making nationwide news for abusing that privilege.
Paulsen isn't "fixing" the system; he's "putting the fix in" to make sure he STAYS in the system.
Here is part of an Editorial naming Erik Paulsen by name; it's an editorial that appeared last Friday in the Hendersonville, North Carolina Times-News:
The idea that a representative would use as much as one third of his office budget, money meant to be spent in ways that benefit constituents, on thinly veiled re-election entreaties, is unconscionable. It's an inappropriate use of the funds, and it presents an unfair advantage for incumbents.
Such spending should be eliminated. If politicians want to send glossy, self-promoting pamphlets about themselves, they can pay for them themselves.
Entire Editorial here. |
