Congressman Blunt Uses Taxpayer Money To Send Out This Flashy Brochure. Is It A Campaign Mailer? Sure Seems To Be...

This ad has been on tv for over a month.

Roy attempted to spin it here in an interview with Michelle Sherwood. Notice how Congressman Blunt sidestepped the question in the first 21 seconds of the interview.

This afternoon, a uniformed representative of the United States Government hand delivered the following four color, four page brochure printed on slick paper to the box that I keep close by my front door, the box I use to communicate with people with whom I interact, folks like Sam, Mr. Sears, J.C. Penney, "The City", etc.

At first I thought it was a campaign advertisement. After all, the most recent Rasmussen poll shows Congressman Blunt down 2 points to Robin Carnahan. I figured Roy was getting an early jump on the 2010 election.

The brochure looked to be a direct reply to that television ad mentioned about. It's called a "Energy Report and Issue Update" but the opening sentence is "Don't be fooled, I don't work for the interests of big oil or the energy industry."

Later in the flyer (four pages, four colors, 11" by 17") Blunt is quoted as saying "My record in Congress is being falsely reported to Missourians."

On the back page, above Roy's picture (when was that photo taken? 1986?), in small print, are two statements:

PUBLIC DOCUMENT / OFFICIAL BUSINESS

This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense.

I called Congressman Blunt's Springfield office and spoke to an attendant whose name I took to be Jennifer (?). I told her I thought this was a campaign flier and was disappointed that Representative Blunt felt it necessary to use taxpayer funds in this manner.

I also called his Washington office and left the same message with Jack McCaan, the gentleman who answered the phone up there.

I was courteous and succinct in stating the purpose of my call and my opinion. Both of the staffers seemed not to know what to say. I left my name and address and thanked them for listening to me.

What do you think? Here is the brochure (click on image to see full size)






Updates on this story are available here.

Congressman Denny Rehburg of Montana sent the same mailer to his constituents. It is just like Blunt's except the names are different. You can compare the two mail pieces here.Click on image to make it bigger.