Now that Franking' is Prohibited, We Don't Hear from Lamborn
Press Release
Now that Franking' is Prohibited, We Don't Hear from Lamborn
Residents of Colorado's Fifth Congressional District received a shiny piece of taxpayer-financed junk mail in their mailboxes from Doug Lamborn in May. Since then, we haven't heard much from Lamborn.
In fact, it seems the only campaign activity Doug Lamborn is comfortable with is when it's paid for by the taxpayers and when it's a one-way communication, from him to the voters.
Congressional rules prohibit members of Congress from sending these so-called franked mailers within 90 days of an election. The 90-day window for the August 12 Primary Election closed on May 14.
"It is disturbing to me that now that Doug Lamborn can't use taxpayer dollars to communicate with constituents, he's simply not been communicating at all," said Crank. "No town hall meetings, few speeches, few personal interviews with reporters and an unwillingness to debate. We should be discussing issues like earmarks, reform of Congressional mail, how best to cut the budget and support the war on terror in a free and open forum. Campaigns should be about ideas and the free-discussion of those ideas. Debating these issues openly shows respect for voters and their power to determine our fate."
The Crank campaign has been calling for public debates with Lamborn since April, with no response.
"When Lamborn could use the taxpayer funded frank' he sent shiny mail pieces to constituents and held telephone town hall meetings at their expense. Now that privilege has expired and he is nowhere to be found," said Alan Philp, Jeff Crank's campaign manager. "It seems the only type of constituent or campaign communication Doug Lamborn is comfortable with is one-way communication at taxpayer expense," concluded Philp.
Philp also pointed out that in two years Lamborn has spent more taxpayer dollars on franking than former Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) spent in over 20 years of service to the district. During his last two-year term, Hefley was also facing a primary and still managed to return to the district for debates.
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