{"id":782,"date":"2006-10-30T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-30T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/10\/pearce-finds-loophole-campaigns-on-public-dime\/"},"modified":"2006-10-30T09:13:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-30T15:13:00","slug":"pearce-finds-loophole-campaigns-on-public-dime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/10\/pearce-finds-loophole-campaigns-on-public-dime\/","title":{"rendered":"Pearce finds loophole, campaigns on public dime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has violated the spirit of a federal rule prohibiting mass mailings with public money to constituents in the 90 days before an election. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In doing so, he\u2019s used taxpayer dollars to campaign for re-election.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce\u2019s congressional office recently sent out more than 4,800 letters to constituents about the \u201cscourge\u201d of methamphetamine use, according to the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>. The letters touted Pearce\u2019s own efforts to deal with the problem.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A federal rule prohibits House members from sending out mass mailings of 500 pieces or more in the 90 days before an election. The intent is obviously to keep House members from abusing taxpayer money.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce found a loophole, and he disregarded the intent of the law.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce actually sent 11 different letters, not one, and mailed them out in batches of fewer than 500, his communications director, David Host, told the Journal. The 11 letters were identical through the first five paragraphs. The final paragraph differed from town to town to reflect the date and time Pearce would appear there.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So, Host told the Journal, he sent, for example, 478 letters to Alamogordo<\/st1:city>, 480 to Silver<\/st1:placename> City<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> and 485 to Artesia. According to the Journal, Republican and Democratic members of the Committee on House Administration, which includes the Franking Commission that oversees this sort of thing, told the Journal that Pearce appears to have complied with the rule.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pearce\u2019s challenger, Democrat Al Kissling, complained about the letters.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean he is not campaigning on taxpayer money,\u201d Kissling told the Journal. \u201cHe\u2019s found a loophole. He\u2019s breaking the intent of the rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl told me last week that he opposes most proposals of the governor\u2019s task force on ethics reform because you can\u2019t force unethical politicians to act ethically. They\u2019ll always find loopholes, he said, and you\u2019ll always have to chase them with more regulations.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The answer, Dendahl told me, is to toss out those who act unethically and elect ethical leaders.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a good example of a politician finding a loophole and exploiting it, regardless of whether doing so is ethical. Voters should be upset, and the loophole should be closed, but Pearce is demonstrating that, once he finds a loophole, he\u2019s willing to exploit it.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

There will be more loopholes.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

This should really make voters wonder about newspapers like the Carlsbad Current-Argus<\/a>, which endorsed Pearce this weekend because Kissling \u201chas good ideas\u201d but \u201cdoesn\u2019t have the power to get those things done.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

That Pearce has \u201csoared to the top of the political food chain in his two terms in Congress\u201d was reason enough for the newspaper to endorse him.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t be about power. That sort of tribal thinking would have every congressional district in every state in the nation fighting over pork money. It means incumbents almost never lose congressional races, and allows them to become comfortable enough that they can bend or break rules without fear of consequence.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It should be about electing ethical leaders who will work together to solve our problems. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has violated the spirit of a federal rule prohibiting mass mailings with public money to constituents in the 90 days before an election. In doing so, he\u2019s used taxpayer dollars to campaign for re-election. Pearce\u2019s congressional office recently sent out more than 4,800 letters to constituents about the \u201cscourge\u201d of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}