Florida GOP Senate candidate George LeMieux has accused his campaign rival Connie Mack of intentionally sending out campaign literature to Republican "super voters" illicitly, since it was paid for by U.S. taxpayers under the pretense of a mailer that was only supposed to be sent out to constituents.
Members of Congress are given franking privileges, which allows them to send constituents material related to their job without paying postage.
But it was reported by Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday that a recent mailer that features one of the most prominent parts of Mack's Senate campaign, his argument for the "penny tax" to help pay down the federal deficit, in fact went to 57,000 registered Republicans outside of Mack's Congressional District in the Fort Myers area. LeMieux said he has received reports that the mailers were sent throughout the state, from Miami-Dade County to Hillsborough and beyond.
The vendor who sent out the errant mailings, William McClintock Associates of New Jersey, has apologized for the error, which was egregious. Of the 90,356 homes the mailer was sent to, 64 percent, or 57,827, were sent outside Mack's congressional district. But LeMieux says Mack, not the vendor, is the one who owes an apology (that vendor has written a check for almost $18,000, the cost of the mailers that went outside the district).
This article appears in May 10-16, 2012.