Your federal tax dollars at waste

Of late, Congressman Ben Chandler has taken to publishing his periodic reports to his constituents as newspaper inserts instead of sending them out through the mail. Whatever you may think of the "franking" privilege, which allows government officials to mail such correspondence without having to pay for it, it's better and cheaper than buying newspaper inserts. "Franking" doesn't really cost anyone anything; the congressional offices just shuffle some money on paper to the U.S. Postal Service and no cash changes hands.

Newspaper inserts, however, are a different story. The congressional offices have to pay for them. This is a real expenditure of tax money.

Chandler's use of newspaper inserts is bad enough, but his most recent update crossed the line.

In their Lexington Herald-Leader on Friday, many subscribers who don't live in Chandler's congressional district found themselves looking at a slick, full-color report from Chandler to his constituents, tucked in amongst the "last weekend before Christmas" sales. In small print on the back of the insert, beneath a union "bug," was the text, "printed and published at taxpayer expense."

It's not nice to see Congressman Chandler wasting tax money to communicate with voters outside his district.