Florida Rep. Alan Grayson has been criticized by his opponent, Kurt Kelly, for abusing the franking privileges that just about every Congressmember abuses.
Grayson sent a DVD to 100,000 of his constituents at a cost of $73,000, but Kelly claims it is a campaign piece sent during the height of the campaign season that highlights Grayson’s most recent term in Congress.
Kelly is demanding an investigation into Grayson’s use of his franking privileges. He is also calling for Grayson to pay back the franking cost through his campaign funds.
“To take this and to send this out as a ruse, as if it is a public service, is an outrage,” said Kelly.
Franking is something that nearly all members of Congress do. On the taxpayer’s dime they have the right to send out information, deemed as public service information, to their constituents.
This privilege has been widely abused in the past.
Now there is a special committee of six members, three from each party, who review and authorize items to be franked. Grayson’s DVD was approved by this committee.
On the face of it, Kelly appears right in his condemnation. The DVD is all about Grayson. Grayson certainly wants the people who see it to have a favorable impression of himself.
Yet there is irony in Kelly calling this a waste of taxpayer money and demanding an investigation.
As the Grayson campaign pointed out, an investigation is going to cost a lot more than the $73,000 involved in the DVD’s distribution and will prove nothing because it was approved.
Most Congressmembers send out traditional print mailers. Grayson went a step further with video, and his ever-present image makes the DVD look more egocentric than most franking mailers. In the end, there is nothing to investigate. Grayson’s DVD was approved by a bipartisan committee. There is no blame to assign to Grayson.
Kelly would have been better served to use Grayson’s DVD as an example of what members of Congress are able to get away with at the taxpayer’s expense. Both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of that.
Simply put, there is no need to hold Grayson to a higher standard than the other 534 members of Congress.
