Porter foes not fans of mailers

Kirsten Searer

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., recently used taxpayer money to send out several four-color, glossy mail pieces touting his record in Washington.

It's legal and it's common, especially close to elections. But several people, including Porter's major Democratic opponent, say it still isn't right.

"It's clearly geared up to be a campaign mailer," said Kristen Hansen, who is supporting Democratic candidate Tom Gallagher, Porter's main challenger.

Hansen recently received a piece on Porter's bill to punish people who drive under the influence of drugs.

"It's the same size, the same colors," she said. "I've seen thousands of these in campaigns and it absolutely looks like a campaign mailer."

Porter spokesman Adam Mayberry argues that Porter has shepherded key legislation through Washington and wants to communicate his message to constituents.

Congressional District 3 is unique because it's one of the fastest-growing districts in America, Mayberry said. Many constituents don't know who their congressman is, and the mail pieces all list contact information for Porter, he said.

Using congressional privilege to send mail at taxpayer expense is called franking.

Mayberry said Porter's constituents "need to know what he's about and what he does. The franked items help us do that. Every member of Congress has that function and that opportunity to use it."

Two recent pieces were targeted to voters. One, a four-page piece on Porter's record on veterans issues, cost an estimated $26,000 to design, produce and mail to about 73,000 households, Mayberry said.

That equates to about 37 cents per piece, he said.

Another, a four-page piece on education issues, cost an estimated $20,000 to produce and mail to about 53,300 people -- about 38 cents per mailer, he said.

The mail pieces are targeted to groups of people because "we don't want to waste taxpayer dollars," Mayberry said. "They ought to be distributed to people who find them useful and helpful."

Another recent mailer about drugged driving issues cost taxpayers $27,500 for 81,000 copies.

Mailing information at taxpayer expense is a common practice among congressional members, but federal law does place some restrictions on franking.

Congressional members cannot, for example, send any piece "on a purely personal or political basis rather than on the basis of performance of official duties as a Member or on the basis of activities as a Member-elect."

House candidates also cannot postmark mailings within 90 days of when their name appears on the ballot, meaning pieces arriving in mailboxes last week likely are the last ones Porter will send.

Since he has no Republican opposition in the primary Porter will not appear on the Sept. 7 ballot.

Porter has mailed out eight franked items during his tenure, including three in recent weeks, Mayberry said.

One of the pieces invited small-business owners to a June business exposition and an April series of town halls on identity theft. The price tag to send out 76,000 identity theft mailers was $23,381.

Several pieces last winter focused on education and Medicare reform. Mayberry said all of Porter's frank items go to the Franking Commission for review and that commmission's membership includes Republicans and Democrats.

"If there is anything wrong or in violation of ethics codes, they come right back to us. Every franked item we have sent out has been approved," Mayberry said.

Steven Weiss, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, said the public should not expect the people who benefit from the privilege to do much to rein it in.

Franking gives incumbent congressional candidates a "huge advantage" during election cycles, Weiss said.

"They basically serve as puff pieces, as ways to showcase all the good stuff that members of Congress have done," Weiss said. "They all use them to improve their standing with voters around election time."

Gallagher said that, if he were elected, he would not step up the number of franking pieces near an election.

"I just think it's wrong to use it to campaign," Gallagher said. "If you're going to be a steward of the taxpayers' money, you should be making sure you're spending their money on things for their benefit."

"This whole thing is so ironic," Gallagher said. "The campaign mailing issue is what led me into government."

Gallagher got his start in politics when he was fresh out of law school and working with the campaign for California Democratic Senate candidate John Tunney.

Tunney and his opponent were both congressmen, and Gallagher was charged with determining if the opponent was abusing his franking privileges, Gallagher said.

A federal court ruled that he was, and Gallagher landed a job as an attorney on Tunney's staff, he said.

Lisa Lynn Chapman, another Gallagher supporter who plans to write a letter to complain about Porter's mail pieces, said she was annoyed to receive a piece because she hadn't received anything from Porter until now.

She said she believed the pieces were, for all intents and purposes, campaign mailers.

"Just because it does not say, 'Vote for Jon Porter,' I can pay for it. I don't think that's right," she said.