Incumbents sure do like to abuse their perqs in their re-election.
The governor’s race has begun already. I’ve seen my first commercial for state treasurer Phil Angelides, who’s running for governor against Arnold Schwarzenegger. Check out Angelides’s biography page on the treasurer’s website, which, in the section under “What Others Are Saying About State Treasurer Phil Angelides,” is one of the most wholly inappropriate misuses of a government-funded website. It’s almost as bad as the franking privilege abuses we see from Congress every year.
For those outside the United States, I’ll explain. To “frank” is to send things through the Postal Service for free. Only members of Congress get to do it. Everyone else, including the president, has to pay for postage. (They made an exception for Martha Washington once, which is the only exception I know of.)
Franking is supposed to be used for official government business only. But every election year, I get something from my local congressman explaining all the wonderful things he’s done over the past year, and inviting me to these “town hall” meetings in which he wants to talk about all the wonderful things he still wants to do. Once he’s re-elected.
This is a campaign ad, of course. But it’s disguised as a newsletter from my congressman. So he can argue it’s not really a campaign ad, but the only reason he’s sending it out (and having my tax dollars pay for it) is to get me to vote for him again. Which I’ll only do if he doesn’t suck worse than his opponent. But he already sucks, because he’s misusing his privilege for personal gain, and making me pay for it.
Angelides is doing the same bloody thing with his state treasurer’s website, and it’s all been part of his plan to eventually run for governor. He’s made no secret of this; he’s run before, and usually lost in the primaries to someone who’s better connected.
I don’t want to vote for Schwarzenegger, but I really don’t want to vote for Angelides. The guy’s campaign tactics have in the past been vicious, petty, and insulting to the public’s intelligence. I expect to see more of the same in the upcoming primary election. Visionary though he may be at times, I still expect politicians to treat their opponents with decency even when they disagree with them, and I won’t vote for someone who can’t do that. Unless he shapes up in this election… nah, it won’t happen.