I recently received, as I do several times a year, my official congressional newsletter as mailed by the office of my representative, Chris Smith of the 4th District. The mailing of newsletters such as this (franking) is perfectly legal and they have been mailed since the early days of our country.
Unfortunately, what they have turned into over time are nothing more than selfaggrandizing re-election propaganda produced and mailed at taxpayer expense.
Rather than objectively report on how the district has fared over the past few months or year and lay out what has been accomplished and which needs remain unfulfilled, these newsletters in their current form are no more than campaign literature extolling the incumbent with the taxpayer footing the bill. Fortunately, there are a few members of Congress who have repudiated this practice. Mine regrettably has not. People wonder why, with congressional approval in the single digits or the low double digits, incumbents are re-elected at rates around 90 percent. The skewing of the playing field by means such as this is one of the reasons.
I would hope that Congressman Smith would follow the lead of some of his colleagues in the House of Representatives and eschew the practice of franking.
Dr. David Giffler
Freehold Borough