If you live in Joe Robach's district, you've been receiving a few mailers each week from the State Senator over the past month. And you may have noticed that some of these mailers are marked "paid for by the New York State Senate." Because in New York, State Senators can send out mailers on the tax-payer's dime until 30 days before the election. Here's the the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on this:
The cost of the mailings isn't clear. The latest government expenditure reports from state lawmakers, available on the Empire Center Web site, cover October 2007 to March 2008. During that time, Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, spent $64,654 in state funds and Sen. James Alesi, R-Perinton, spent $35,666 on mailings.
A mailing sent during the last two weeks from Robach touts "Senator Joe Robach's Job Creation Plan" and states, "Senator Robach wants to slash taxes to make businesses more competitive and to bring new jobs here." The full-color mailer was printed and mailed at taxpayer expense.
Robach has sent out at least five such mailings this year, on topics ranging from property taxes to lead poisoning to education.
This is yet another example of the absurd ways in which New York State Legislators are able to milk the advantage of incumbency. And like most of the other examples, it involves wasting tax-payers money. |
