Thursday, September 28, 2006

Being Frank About Franking

The Lawrence Journal-World on August 12 ran an article with the headline "Opponent questions Ryun’s energy mailing." According to the article, Nancy Boyda, the Democrat challenger to Rep. Jim Ryun, took issue with Ryun sending a "mass mailout at taxpayer expense." The mailout concerned energy issues.

"It’s just wrong that he uses taxpayer money for a political campaign,” said Boyda “It’s just a political piece.”

"The card also was sent right before the deadline that prohibits the use of franking for mailouts in the 90 days before an election," noted reporter Scott Rothschild.

Rothschild made no mention of Rep. Dennis Moore, the Democrat representing the Kansas Third, doing a similar mailout "right before the deadline." That mailout also concerned energy issues. The Kansas Meadlowlark has posted Moore's postcard.

Boyda can be expected to criticize Ryun's franking while conveniently ignoring Moore's franking. She's a desperate policitican looking for any excuse to smear her opponent. However, an objective newspaper would have taken the effort to look into the franking privileges of both incumbents. The Journal-World did not, and has not, done that.

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