In Memory of
Cazenovia Curmudgeon
By Donald Krueger
(Cazenovia, NY) Or should it be the other way around? In my Feb. 22 Courier column, I took exception to those whatever-the-are-they’re-not-newsletters our 23rd District Congressman Bill Owens mails to us every month or so, those “prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense.”
And that expense must be considerable, given they’re the sort of things we see at campaign time … paid for by candidates’ campaign funds. I said I’d like to see Congressman Bill’s – Billzus’s – explanation for his waste of our money, not, of course, expecting a reply.
But what do you know? There was a letter from him to me in the March 12 Courier; actually, as is the way of such things, more likely from one of his staffers. AS is also the way, write a couple of lines, punch in a few key words, and a computer will do the writing.
And as is the way, nothing in that computer’s letter had to do with Congressman Billzus’s taxpayer-funded extravagances. Political boilerplate, but, hey, at least a reply, which can’t be said of most politicos.
But it did call the mailings “newsletters.” Come now, shouldn’t our elected representatives and their staffers know the difference between newsletters and campaign advertising when spending our money for either? Newsletters are just that: letters with news. In theory, news you can use, politicians hope in their favor, come election time. Congressman Owens’s mailings, on the other hand, are self-promotion pieces – puff pieces, PR people call them.
Heavy-weight card stock, full color, lots of photos of the Congressman in factories and with groups, many of the photos repeated from piece to piece. Very little text, but lots of bold headlines: “Helping Small Business.” “Working to Cut Red Tape.” “Turn our Economy Around.”
But not why, where, where or how. That, the good news, we have to learn from that other newspaper over in the big city: “U.S. Rep. Bill Owens scored a big coup … (re) one of the biggest pieces of legislation to pass through Congress.”
I have six of Congressman Owens’s whatever-they-are-but-not-newsletters, and not one mentions he’s a member of the House Agriculture Committee, and his coup was persuading the Committee to hold one of its only four national meetings here in the northeast – at Saranac Lake, in fact. Agriculture is a big issue for voters in this district, Congressman; a real newsletter from you, Congressman, would have kept us up-to-date and show there’s more here than business interests.
What does the Agriculture Committee do? Accomplish? And you, as a member?
A real newsletter could tell us of the progress in Congress – or lack of progress – of the debate over renewal of the Farm Bill. Will Congress cut $1 billion from its $6 billion annual conservation budget with larger cuts possible?
What is your role in the debate? Any cuts would have negative consequences for wetlands and wildlife conservation and other environmental issues. What is your position? Let us know these things in your next mailing. A real newsletter.
If you and your staff ned to know what one looks like, I’ll be pleased to show you: Lou Dubose’s “The Washington Spectator” – a single 11-by-17-inch sheet of paper with four pages of news and opinion. No color photos. Recycled paper … and knowing Dubose’s politics, likely union-printed.
Same for the newsletters we Cazenovia residents get from our Town Board’s newsletter, four pages of what we don’t get from our local papers.
State Sen. David J. Valesky (D – Oneida) sends us a single 8.5-by-14-inch sheet, printed both sides, with a reply card asking “What matters to you?” We pay the postage. Have you ever asked us, those of us who don’t do email, what matters to us? Your next mailing? Minus the self-promotion, the slick paper, color photos? More text? Without the needless bold headlines and advertising format?
Something to think about, what with election season coming up – ‘economy’ the byword; excessive spending of taxpayers’ money not a good idea.
What it comes down to is that YOU, congressman, your staffers – call these mailings “constituent service mailers.” You refer to them as newsletters. Clearly they do not fit into the category of newsletter, emphasis on letter. It is questionable if they provide a constituent service.
In my opinion, they are more in the service of a politician’s – candidate’s? – self-promotion.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck … Prepared and presented at taxpayer expense.
Doesn’t the House have rules about ducks?
Editor’s note: Donald W. Krueger (Nov. 14, 1928 – Aug. 3, 2014) of Cazenovia was a retired professor and active contrarian. He succumbed to a prolonged illness Sunday, Aug. 3, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Syracuse. The Curmudgeon was proof positive that you can take the professor out of the classroom, but you can’t take the classroom out of the professor; he worked to educate himself and anyone who crossed his path until his last breath.