Broun's almost bankrupt
Internet problems hindered my ability to update some comments (apologies again!) and comment on a few things, but all of that appears to be fixed today. And that lets me be a day late to the party in commenting on Paul Broun spending more than 80 percent of his congressional budget.
Broun doesn't make any apologies for spending close to $600,000 on franking - which is more than folks like John Barrow or Nathan Deal spent in altogether in the first half of the year - and that's ridiculous.
Of course, Broun's logic doesn't hold up. Seeing how with close to $300,000 in campaign debt lingering from the 2007 special election, to suggest he was merely staying in touch with constituents via mailing and phone calls doesn't make sense. Particularly since if one was presumably trying to communicate with those he represents, than those mail pieces wouldn't have been carefully targeted to only Republican-leaning voters and some moderates.
Sounds more like a campaign strategy rather than constituent outreach to me.
Here's the thing, if you run as a fiscal conservative - one who abstains from certain votes on spending or votes against them because you don't feel it's the government's responsibility, all the while railing against representatives fighting for funding for local projects - then do this, it's almost inexcusable. If nothing else, it reveals you to be one of the most shameless hypocrites who have exploited taxpayers' money for your own personal gain.
Broun doesn't make any apologies for spending close to $600,000 on franking - which is more than folks like John Barrow or Nathan Deal spent in altogether in the first half of the year - and that's ridiculous.
Of course, Broun's logic doesn't hold up. Seeing how with close to $300,000 in campaign debt lingering from the 2007 special election, to suggest he was merely staying in touch with constituents via mailing and phone calls doesn't make sense. Particularly since if one was presumably trying to communicate with those he represents, than those mail pieces wouldn't have been carefully targeted to only Republican-leaning voters and some moderates.
Sounds more like a campaign strategy rather than constituent outreach to me.
Here's the thing, if you run as a fiscal conservative - one who abstains from certain votes on spending or votes against them because you don't feel it's the government's responsibility, all the while railing against representatives fighting for funding for local projects - then do this, it's almost inexcusable. If nothing else, it reveals you to be one of the most shameless hypocrites who have exploited taxpayers' money for your own personal gain.
posted by Jmac at 7:18 AM
2 Comments:
I looked at the PDF last night and the most shocking thing is how little Broun spent locally. I find it hard to believe he couldn't find a local company to print and distribute his flyers. Instead some companies around DC and one in Houston got to profit from his wasteful ways.
600k could buy a lot of communication infrastructure. Unfortunately, constituents ended paying for a bunch of garbage that is going straight to the landfill.
I'd be interested to see if Broun got any donations from the companies he used to print and distribute these mailers.
This bothered me a lot so I set up Brounsbucks.org.
If anyone is interested in helping track Broun's spending with me I'd appreciate the help. My first goal is to link to articles in the ABH and transfer information from the PDF to a proper spreadsheet.
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