Photo: Matt Schmoeckel, Flickr
From the Regulations on the Use of the Congressional Frank by Members of the House of Representatives, Rule XLVI, 4:
A Member may not send any mass mailing outside the congressional district from which the Member was elected.
Considering Bachmann has an unusually high number of staffers dedicated to media, why is it that her press office is guilty of repeated violations of misusing taxpayer dollars and the congressional frank?
So someone goes to Bachman’s website or calls her office and asks her to mail them a pamphlet and it’s a crime if she uses the house post office to do it? Is it unreasonable to assume that the people she’s mailing are actually district members with multiple residence? I guess we just don’t know and I doubt you really want the answer anyway.
Tell you what, I’ll say this is the worst thing in the world right after you call for an investigation into Obama’s campaign website’s use of credit cards to circumvent federal election law. When you’re outraged that foreign money was coming into a presidential election and individuals and corporations were paying way over their legal limits while no one did a thing to stop it, then I’ll call for Bachmann’s resignation over this. If this were like that House Banking scam that got so many dems sent home you might have a point. Unfortunately, while we can agree that this is probably a breach in the letter of the law (if such is a law and not a policy or a rule) the use of congressional postage used for actual mail is a weak example of corruption in washington.
Lloyd -
“So someone goes to Bachman’s website or calls her office and asks her to mail them a pamphlet and it’s a crime if she uses the house post office to do it?”
No, that didn’t happen in this situation. Even if it did, the franking rules prohibit mass mailing outside of CD6.
“Is it unreasonable to assume that the people she’s mailing are actually district members with multiple residence?”
Also not what happened in this instance. The person this was addressed to does not have any other residences and lives only in Colorado.
Another “what about what YOUR guy did?” defense.
Lloyd, did that ever work in second grade? When you were called out for some misdeed and protested to the teacher “but look at what CMan did?” did the teacher let you off the hook, without any further discussion? Or was the response “never mind what CMan did, we’re talking about you?”
I’m just curious. I figure the only reason you’re using it so readily is that it’s been successful for you in the past.
PS The issue here is not a reply to a letter, but a mass mailing outside the district, which is explicitly prohibited by House rules.
(From an earlier Lloyd post):
You give them acorn they give you haliburton, you give them GE and they give you Shell, BP, etc, you give them Fannie and they give you AIG. There all the same thing…
They give you Bachmann’s abuse of franking and you give them Obama’s website. And here I thought you didn’t play the “what-about” game?
You would have me if I never questioned the efficacy of funding taxpayer money going to AIG, Haliburton, Shell, etc. Unfortunately for you I question all such corporate welfare.
As for the “franking scheme” you point to, if you honestly think this is a good example of corruption at the highest levels of government then keep on playing the fool. I’ve granted she well may be in error and if she is she needs whatever reprimand house rules say she deserves but don’t expect me to think your sincere in your outrage when Charles Rangel still holds his chair on Ways and Means. Bachman’s crimes don’t even ride to the level of wet noodle lashing when you compare them to what you’ve let your leadership get away with. Perhaps if she was pro-choice and fought to fund ACORN you’d feel better about her?
Pointing out your blatant hypocrisy, Floyd.
Yes Lloyd, let’s all get off Bachmann’s back and get back to attacking the poor, the homeless, the immigrant, and those groups that represent them. The poor are destroying this country. Right Lloyd? Some people like to speak truth to power. The Republican party speaks truth to the vulnerable to protect power.
You hit the nail right on the head. People like my mother who worked her entire life in a cotton mill in S.C. had no power at the ballot box, no health insurance, no retirement and died younger than she should have. Republicans have used the racism and unfounded fears that exist in the south (I did change my mother’s views)and elsewhere to unite the uneducated to support their party.
I don’t think I ever got any mailers from her when I lived in Stillwater - so was pretty surprised to have that show up here in Denver (15 months after I last had a Stillwater address).
BREAKING NEWS! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! Michelle Bachmann has broken the law, AGAIN. Since we can’t beat her at the ballot box, lets keep throwing something at the wall until one sticks. THIS IS A CALL TO ALL LIBERALS! UNITE!
I completely agree with Lloyd and Cman. We need to keep Michelle Bachmann in the House.
Bachmann is nuts. Please defeat her. She stops other Republicans from winning elections.
You are obviously an anti-Christian who is actively working against the workings of the Lord. Pretending to be a Republican is a sorry excuse we see your Liberal Democrat party ties. Shame on you for not supporting this hard working Republican spokesmodel.
Carter Some of the residents of Bachmanns district need to understand she is the laughing stock of the rest of the United States. Her Emily Latilla (played by Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live) speeches - particularly on the “food Supply” are classic and should be published in the comics section. And the other “revelations” she spouts speak poorly of her staff as well. Don’t they eve fact check her speeches with an un-biased source? Keep it up Rep. Bachmann - we need some levity in this day and age.
She is a looneytoon. Of course most Rethugs are drinking the same koolaid, so they don’t see it. Why an average american would support a group (the republican Party) that clearly does not have their best interests in mind is clearly beyond me. But then Hitler and Gobbels had it right when they said the Big Lie works better than a little lie.
That would be the republicans’ job to primary her out of the party. Good luck.
http://www.immelman.us/
Larry,
Your premise that someone goes to the Congresswoman’s website is invalid since she does not accept emails from people outside her district.
Now, if someone did send a personal letter, would it not be more likely that a personal response would be sent … but this clearly was a mass mailing using Zip-Four data and “Or Current Resident” on the label. That what makes this wrong. Heck, I have gotten handwritten envelopes on responses.
As a fiscal conservative, I view this is as a clear abuse of the Member’s Allowance.
The best way to clear this up is for the Congresswoman to explain why this mailing was done.
More on Bachmann’s abuse of constituent mailings here:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/3426/michele-bachmann-uses-freedom-of-the-taxpayer-paid-press-to-promote-herself/comment-page-1
It’s just antic after antic with Michele Bachmann. She needs to be voted out. Dr. Maureen Reed is running against her in the 6th District, for Congress. You can support Maureen here:
http://maureenreedforcongress.com/
and check out more info on her here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_Reed
I’m not in this….representative’s disrict, but I’ve gotten unsolicited, bat-guano crazy propaganda from her, both e-mail and snail-mail. You can’t e-mail complaints to her, because my address places me, correctly, outside her district. Calling her office and talking to the bible-drones on the other end of the phone leaves you wanting to take some diazepam and a bath. She’s pathetic, beyond all belief. Not even in the most backward, sister-mating, mouth-breathing county in Mississippi can you find an elected representative as actively psychotic, and clueless as Bachamnn. Minnesota should be so ashamed such a thing holds public office.
AGAIN?
Other than Jon Stewart, Olbermann and Rachel Maddow WHAT are the conequences for abusing Franking Privileges? God KNOWS.
Dan Rostenkowski went to jail for abusing his mailing privileges.
http://politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestion...
Where's the correction and apology?