Gottheimer: Garrett Should Reimburse Taxpayers for Deadline Spending Spree on Campaign-Style Mail

Press Release

Josh Gottheimer, Candidate for the Fifth Congressional District, today demanded that Tea Partier Scott Garrett reimburse taxpayers for the total amount of money he has spent on campaign-style mass mailings this election cycle, including for two pieces of mail received by Fifth District voters in recent days. Garrett timed the unsolicited mailings to land in voters' mailboxes within hours of yesterday's federally-mandated deadline prohibiting taxpayer-funded literature.

"Scott Garrett fails to fix our roads and bridges and deserts 9/11 First Responders in need of health care, yet he blows millions of our tax dollars on blatantly political mail just to stay in office," said Gottheimer.

Gottheimer continued, "Garrett's galling hypocrisy proves he is just another Washington politician putting his own self-interest over the needs of our community. Garrett has chosen to waste millions of our tax dollars on these mailings instead of paying for them with the more than $2 million he has in his own campaign account. He should immediately reimburse taxpayers."

Garrett has historically leveraged franking to his benefit in the District. Not including the most recent mailings, Garrett has spent more than $2.5 million dollars on mass mailers during his time in Congress according to publicly available records. According to the Sunlight Foundation, Garrett has spent more money on franking than any other member of New Jersey's Congressional Delegation.

One would be hard-pressed to distinguish Garrett's latest taxpayer-funded mailings from those typically sent by political campaigns. One glossy mailer promotes Garrett's economic proposals. Another letter sent on the taxpayers' dime focused on Garrett's opinions of the year old Iran nuclear deal and may have targeted Jewish voters. Gottheimer broke with his own party and opposed the deal.

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