Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Big bucks spent on newsletters

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Dec. 27, 2001 | 8:12 a.m.

I wish I had paid closer attention to that slick, little publication from the county called Sandstone. Instead, I quickly scanned it and tossed it into the recycling basket.

Now I learn it costs taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars a year to print and mail it to approximately 600,000 households. That might seem a paltry sum to public officials, but there is something to be said about saving a little here and there.

Sandstone is not the only official publication taxpayers are subsidizing. Informational pamphlets are sent by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Regional Transportation Commission, University Medical Center, the Clark County School District and others. Total cost of all publications is more than a million dollars annually.

Newsletters and pamphlets thus become a luxury item financially strapped government entities can ill afford.

There is another side to the coin, however. Proponents of the publications claim they offer valuable information about local government that is not available through the local media -- and that could be.

The question still exists as to how many people actually read the newsletters. With so much junk mail cluttering mail boxes, do the government releases fall in that category?

Personally, I find most of these publications to be somewhat self-serving. Usually the editors are telling taxpayers what a great job government officials are doing.

We have all questioned the practice of incumbents, running for re-election, using the pages of these publications to inform prospective voters of their records. Is that an unfair advantage?

Perhaps the key to the expenditure of large sums of taxpayer money on the dissemination of official propaganda is to answer the question: Do we really need all this spin or could the money be put to better use?

That's a problem public officials will face as the economy slows and a bit of belt tightening is in order. One answer might be to supply the newsletters to residents who make an official request.

As an afterthought, how much do the city and county TV channels cost the taxpayers?

Fox News seems to have taken the country by storm -- that is if you believe what their announcers keep telling us.

I enjoy the brashness and thought-provoking reporting. Bill O'Reilly is fun if you don't take him too seriously.

But why did it have to dig into the political ashcan and find former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He was all washed up. Now the network has given him a platform to turn on a new power switch.

From Hallmark comes this wish for the New Year: "May the time be close at hand, when we all live in harmony. A peaceful world of kindred hearts, united as a family."