![\"krueger,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/krueger-donald-w-7.jpg\")
<\/a>Cazenovia Curmudgeon <\/strong><\/p>\nBy Donald Krueger<\/strong><\/p>\n (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\u2019re-not-newsletters our 23rd District Congressman Bill Owens mails to us every month or so, those \u201cprepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense.\u201d<\/p>\n And that expense must be considerable, given they\u2019re the sort of things we see at campaign time \u2026 paid for by candidates\u2019 campaign funds. I said I\u2019d like to see Congressman Bill\u2019s \u2013 Billzus\u2019s \u2013 explanation for his waste of our money, not, of course, expecting a reply.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n And as is the way, nothing in that computer\u2019s letter had to do with Congressman Billzus\u2019s taxpayer-funded extravagances. Political boilerplate, but, hey, at least a reply, which can\u2019t be said of most politicos.<\/p>\n But it did call the mailings \u201cnewsletters.\u201d Come now, shouldn\u2019t 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\u2019s mailings, on the other hand, are self-promotion pieces \u2013 puff pieces, PR people call them.<\/p>\n 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: \u201cHelping Small Business.\u201d \u201cWorking to Cut Red Tape.\u201d \u201cTurn our Economy Around.\u201d<\/p>\n But not why, where, where or how. That, the good news, we have to learn from that other newspaper over in the big city: \u201cU.S. Rep. Bill Owens scored a big coup \u2026 (re) one of the biggest pieces of legislation to pass through Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n I have six of Congressman Owens\u2019s whatever-they-are-but-not-newsletters, and not one mentions he\u2019s 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 \u2013 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\u2019s more here than business interests.<\/p>\n What does the Agriculture Committee do? Accomplish? And you, as a member?<\/p>\n A real newsletter could tell us of the progress in Congress \u2013 or lack of progress \u2013 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?<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n If you and your staff ned to know what one looks like, I\u2019ll be pleased to show you: Lou Dubose\u2019s \u201cThe Washington Spectator\u201d \u2013 a single 11-by-17-inch sheet of paper with four pages of news and opinion. No color photos. Recycled paper \u2026 and knowing Dubose\u2019s politics, likely union-printed.<\/p>\n Same for the newsletters we Cazenovia residents get from our Town Board\u2019s newsletter, four pages of what we don\u2019t get from our local papers.<\/p>\n State Sen. David J. Valesky (D \u2013 Oneida) sends us a single 8.5-by-14-inch sheet, printed both sides, with a reply card asking \u201cWhat matters to you?\u201d We pay the postage. Have you ever asked us, those of us who don\u2019t 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?<\/p>\n Something to think about, what with election season coming up \u2013 \u2018economy\u2019 the byword; excessive spending of taxpayers\u2019 money not a good idea.<\/p>\n What it comes down to is that YOU, congressman, your staffers \u2013 call these mailings \u201cconstituent service mailers.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n In my opinion, they are more in the service of a politician\u2019s \u2013 candidate\u2019s? \u2013 self-promotion.<\/p>\n If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck \u2026 Prepared and presented at taxpayer expense.<\/p>\n Doesn\u2019t the House have rules about ducks?<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: Donald W. Krueger (Nov. 14, 1928 \u2013 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\u2019t take the classroom out of the professor; he worked to educate himself and anyone who crossed his path until his last breath.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u2019re-not-newsletters our 23rd District Congressman Bill Owens mails to us every month or so, those \u201cprepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense.\u201d And that expense must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-eUs","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}