corrente

Is there any depth to which this monstrosity the Republican Party has turned into won't sink? By itself this is a petty act involving a trivial sum of money. But it's a crappy precedent to set, not to mention illegal as hell, and if total R control of all three branches of government continues it will become standard practice because nobody will be willing to investigate or prosecute it.

I have nothing against snowmobiles (well, they're not a real big issue in West Tennessee--don't get me started on four-wheelers though) but these are National PARKS we're talking about, dammit. Let these jackasses ride on private land, or state parks already manicured for human play purposes, and let the RNC pay for their own damn promotional mailings. Dammit.

This is long but (see earlier post about the PitA registration on the Star-Tribune) I'm posting most of it for those who are interested.

(via MN Star-Tribune)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- In a taxpayer-financed mailing to 166,000 Minnesota and Wisconsin snowmobile owners last week, House Republicans touted their efforts with President Bush to protect access to Yellowstone National Park.

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., of the House Resources Committee, authorized the expenditure of $68,081 for the full-color mailing as official business, panel spokesman Brian Kennedy said Tuesday. He said the mailing also went to 9,658 snowmobilers in Montana and Wyoming.

But House Democrats say the mailing was part of a thinly disguised improper campaign by Pombo to use public money to influence voters in Minnesota and Wisconsin, swing states in the presidential election, and in key House races.

Six earlier Resources Committee mailings, which cost between $78,000 and $90,000, were sent to the districts of three Republican committee members facing reelection challenges, Kennedy said.

"This is part of an unprecedented and major effort to use the resources of the Resources Committee to influence elections," Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., said of the mailings. Calling the most recent mailing a violation of House rules, he said Republicans were attempting to make a new "use of government money to reelect George Bush."

The latest mailing, under the heading "Resources Committee Update," states that the panel "is working with President Bush to ensure that snowmobilers have access to our National Parks and recreation areas." In a personal message, Pombo said the committee collaborated with Bush to end a Yellowstone snowmobiling ban imposed at the end of the Clinton administration.

House rules forbid members from sending out mass mailings - those of at least 500 pieces - in the 90 days before an election. In addition, Sherman said, all mail goes through a bipartisan review by a six-member Franking Commission evenly divided between Republican and Democratic House members.

But there are no such restrictions on committee mailings, which can be disseminated anytime as long as they relate to committee business. Sherman said committee mailings in the past have been deemed official business if they related to a forthcoming field hearing, but no such hearing was mentioned in last week's mailing.

Brian Walsh, a spokesman for Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney, R-Ohio, said the panel's staff director informally reviewed the latest mailing and found it "relates to the normal business of the House."

In 2002, all House committees combined spent $39,979 on postage. But last year, Pombo's committee asked House Administration for $250,000 in postage during the 108th Congress. It was allotted $50,000 each year and spent nearly all of it, Kennedy said.