Letters: Too much political mail

The column by Michael Dawidziak, "The economy affects campaign coffers, too" [Opinion, Oct. 12], has validity, but has anyone else noticed the proliferation of mailings from elected officials under the guise of public service? I sent about 100 of them to Newsday a short time back, hoping the newspaper would write an article ["Ban on 'political' mail," News, Oct. 20].

The information increases dramatically as Election Day nears, and it is a front for political advertising. I am neither Republican nor Democrat.

In the same vein, the county mobile office van was parked at the entrance to Eisenhower Park on weekends all summer with the name of Edward Mangano, county executive, plastered on the side. Both parties do it, and they are using taxpayer money for advertising.

James E. Meyer, Westbury
 

In the article "Ban on 'political' mail," Diane Yatauro is quoted as saying, "I was simply using my untapped mail budget to inform the public on an important legislative matter which has a direct impact on their lives."

I'm not going to argue the merits of the $50,000 mailing itself, but it seems that Yatauro was trying to use up all of the money that had been budgeted for mailing. This mentality by government officials is why our country is $14 trillion in debt.

If a family budgets a certain amount for gas for the car, for example, and doesn't use it all, members don't go driving around in circles to use up more gas. The opposite seems to be true in government.

I understand that if government departments don't use up all the money in the budget for a given year, they will have difficulty getting that amount again the following year. But maybe they didn't need that much in the first place.

I wish that every employee would treat government or company spending as if it were their own. That alone might create jobs.

Kathy O'Hara, Huntington