Friday February 22, 2008
And a rare major snowstorm has jump-started the weekend.
It’s an election year, so we should expect lawmakers to be a little more self-promotional that usual. There are many kinds of advertisements for themselves in the naked Capitol.
Here’s a handy dandy guide to some of them, so you Blog-o-rama fans can separate the actual fact from blatant political marketing.
Let’s start with the lowest form of promo. That would be the mailings you get from your various state representatives and senators.
These mailings come in a standard size, with blue ink, and are paid for by you, the taxpayer. The language is created by the four caucuses: House Democrats and Republicans and Senate Ds and Rs.
Each lawmaker is allowed to paper his or her district seasonally.
That’s fine, I guess, but what really bugs me is that the Capitol is littered with boxes and boxes and boxes of these things, waiting to be printed and mailed. Go up to the fourth floor of the Capitol, over on the east side, and see how dozens of these boxes are literally blocking the hallways. The side of each box has a head shot of a House Republican lawmaker, whose agitprop is contained within.
They’re eyesores and it seems that only Blog-o-rama cares.
Why, lobbyists hardly have any elbow room to confidently text lies to their clients.
Okay, that last line isn’t exactly true, but the Capitol’s a landmark building, with tours taking place constantly during the day and yet these political propaganda bombs are obstructing the halls.
And why are they blocking the floors and not hidden away from public view in staff offices? Because legislative leaders allow it.
Next up on the food chain is the self-promoting news release. Most of them are ignored by Capitol reporters.
Backbencher A, a freshman lawmaker, is still learning where the rest rooms are and he will have absolutely nothing to do with any successful legislation, even if they are a majority Democrat, until they acquire some tenure.
So if you read in the paper a story about Republican Backbencher A’s plan to solve the state’s fiscal problems, I’d suggest you put down that weekly giveaway paper and fold it into the parrot cage, where it belongs.
The ultimate life form of self-promoting jive that we have to deal with oozes from the governor’s office, no less. It occurs during the week or two heading into a State Bond Commission meeting, which usually occurs on the last Friday of the month.
Jodi Rell’s PR staff cranks out news release after news release about projects that will be approved during the upcoming meeting.
Sounds premature? It is, but it allows Rell to get a couple bites from the PR apple. Newspapers tend to report the biggest items when she first announces them, then again a week later after the actual meeting, where Rell determines the agenda.
Lawmakers allow this to happen too, because Rell’s staff usually includes an appropriate gushing thank you in the news release from a lawmaker or two, Republican and/or Democrat, whose district will benefit from the pork.
What is never announced is the corresponding increase in the state’s debt. But that would clear away the snow.