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July 13, 2007 05:29 PM UTC

Lamborn Loves Him Some Franking Privilege

  • 24 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Springs Gazette reports:

Congressman Doug Lamborn spent more than $40,000 in his first three months in office on mass mailings and constituent letters, more than his predecessor, Joel Hefley, spent during his last five years on the job.

The privilege of franking allows members of Congress to send out mail using public funds. Lamborn’s total, which does not include expenditures from April through June, covered letters to 5th Congressional District residents and several full-color mail pieces detailing his votes and the duties of his office.

Each of Lamborn’s mailings has been approved by a House oversight committee, which is supposed to certify that the content is fundamentally informational, not political. But a potential challenger to Lamborn’s presumed run for re-election in 2008 says the Colorado Springs Republican, elected in November, is abusing the privilege by spending taxpayer money to build political support before he faces a primary challenge next year…a survey by The Gazette showed that Lamborn greatly outspent at least five of the six other members of the Colorado delegation to the House. The seventh member, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, did not respond to an e-mail and phone calls requesting her franking spending.

Of the others, fellow freshman Ed Perlmutter, D-Wheat Ridge, came in a distant second at $19,000.

Jeff Crank, Hefley’s former chief of staff who lost a bitter primary to Lamborn in 2006 and is considering a challenge in 2008, called the new congressman’s spending an abuse by someone who touts himself as a fiscal conservative. Sending out “slick pieces” that show off Lamborn and play up his votes seems designed more to push his re-election campaign than to inform constituents, Crank said.

Look, if you were a hapless buffoon who can’t build loyalty even in the most partisan-aligned district in the state, you’d do it too.

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24 thoughts on “Lamborn Loves Him Some Franking Privilege”

  1. of the incumbent can be abused and Crank is making a good case against Lamborn. Now all he needs is add 1+1 with Lamborn’s earmarks and he can repeat Lamborn’s spending problem from now until election day.

  2. Has he even done enough to be able to fill up the cardstock? Even if he wasn’t a bufoonish incompetent who needs Ed Perlmutter to bail him out, he hasn’t even been there long enough.

    2.   I’m sure that Lamborn is meticulously reporting on the goings on before the Armed Services Wait List Committee on which he holds the position ranking minority.

  3. Just like he’s OK with other people’s districts being seized by the U.S. Army, or turned into an oil shale factory. 

    Doug Lamborn–raising the bar on embarrassing Colorado Republicans.

  4. YOU LEFT OUT THE BEST PART!!! I am furious.

    “Harvin said the mailings are just one of the ways Lamborn is reaching out. The Web site soon will be redesigned so that visitors can see VIDEO OF LAMBORN on the House floor and HEAR RECORDINGS of his speeches.”

    Will these videos and recordings be edited? I sure hope not! This will make it easier for all of us to prove what bumbling buffoon Lamborn is! Crank must be ELATED, I know I stood up and did a dance when I read that paragraph. I thought Lamborn’s staff was smarter than this, but no they are going to play to his weaknesses. Will CFG stop this silliness or will all of us get to see Dougie make a fool of himself on the House floor???

  5. Mr. L demonstrates repeatedly why he is a poor representative of Congressional District 5. Actions speak louder than words and in the same vein… Actions speak louder than franked mail. That’s $40,000 of tax dollars that SHOULD have been spent any number of ways. Allow me to elaborate:

      (a) Develop a comprehensive and consensus solution for Pinon Canyon… INSTEAD Mr. L fumbled and we got this.

      (b) Instead of letting octogenarians know about how to secure a flag that’s been flown over the capitol how about letting Joe Voter know what PORK you’re pushing through congress? INSTEAD we have this.

      (c) OR MAYBE he should just hire a speech coach and take come writing classes… This is an example of a BAD bill POORLY represented that was KILLED practically before Mr. L finished stumbling through his speech.

    I am standing by my original assessment here… a friggin chimpanzee could be a more effective Congressman than Mr. L.  and I cannot wait for him to be replaced in 2008.

  6. So I’m curious what the oversight committee will say when they see this quote from Lambon’s office:

    “said Chris Harvin, Lamborn’s press secretary. “The thought on that is it’s more of an integrated marketing campaign.”

    What an idiot. An integrated marketing campaign for whom? If he answers Doug Lamborn he violates every frank mail rule. FRANK MAIL explicitly CANNOT be marketing of an individual! DOH! It’s supposed to be INFORMATIONAL about what’s going on in Washington… ADMITTING that this is part of a bigger marketing strategy makes me wonder who Chris Harvin is (GASP) coordinating with to market Lamborn to the hapless souls of the 5th CD. If we find out it’s Jon Hotaling… well that wouldn’t be too good now would it?

    Anyone know who needs to review this from a legal perspective? Who would hand out the dunce cap and a smack on the knuckles with a ruler?

     

    3. As a constituent, you can challenge this with the House Oversight committee. I would suggest first contacting a campaign finance lawyer to find precedent, standing and appropriate procedural filing.

      Best of luck!

    4. Even Marilyn Musgrave’s people haven’t been so stupid as to publicly state why they are really spending taxpayer dollars to get her reelected.

      2. it takes alot to make muskrat look lik a dedicated public servant.

        watching him speak….wow.  He can’t even parrot the talking points.

        What is wrong with you R’s in el paso that you couldn’t get somebody better in your primary?

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