No more free ads for legislators
How many of you have actually learned something from a “public service announcement” aired on television or radio by a state representative? More importantly, how many of you have actually acted on what you’ve learned, such as applying for a property tax rebate or heating assistance? Chances are, if those programs exist, you’ve already heard about them in the mail, courtesy of the newsletters legislators send out ad nauseam, also at taxpayer expense. But that didn’t stop your state House from spending $6 million of your tax money in the past two years to flood the airwaves with the faces and names of incumbent state representatives.
Democrats spent $1.6 million for this questionable purpose. But they were outdone by Republicans, who tossed $4.4 million (or nearly three times as much) into what’s realistically another incumbency protection measure.
Think that isn’t so? Well, then travel back in the time machine to last year, when state Rep. H. William DeWeese was up for re-election and faced competition in the primary and general elections. In February DeWeese ran an ad about “veterans services” 3,493 times in the Uniontown area at a cost of $20,064. In August, DeWeese ran an ad about “PACE Plus” 2,400 times at a cost of $13,556.
State Rep. Matt Wright, a Bucks County Republican who was defeated, ran a dozen ads over two years, including one on “PHEAA.” But we doubt that it chronicled that agency’s egregious spending excesses, including a Lear jet flight and a tuxedo rental, because those didn’t surface until recently.
Clearly such spending is nothing more than a means to help an incumbent get re-elected. State Rep. Greg Vitali, a Delaware County Democrat, realizes as much. In this season of reform, Vitali plans to offer an amendment that would ban the use of a lawmaker’s name, face or voice on taxpayer-funded ads during election years.
If anyone on the House Legislative Reform Commission opposes Vitali’s amendment to House rules, he or she should step down immediately, because this is a litmus test on whether they truly support reform. And if anyone serving in the House doesn’t support the Vitali proposal, he or she is in effect saying, “I like charging taxpayers to help me keep my seat.
Democratic paid consultant Larry Ceisler says such ads inform the public so they can contact a lawmaker for help.
But in the battle of logic, we side with Vitali’s view that if the information is that critical, the appropriate state agency should spend the ad money, leaving individual legislators out of the picture entirely.