Republicans slam Rep. Grayson over DVD mailing

Republicans slam Rep. Grayson over DVD mailing
By Shane D'Aprile - 07/30/10 12:01 PM ET

Florida state Rep. Kurt Kelly (R) is calling for the House ethics committee to open an official inquiry into whether Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) improperly used his franking privileges in sending a DVD to constituents.

Grayson mailed out a DVD to some 100,000 households in Florida's 8th Congressional District, labeling it an official communication from his office. He paid for the mailing courtesy of his franking privilege, which permits members to mail with taxpayer money.

First reported by the Orlando Sentinel, it's a 90-minute video titled "Getting Things Done for You," and features a highlight reel of sorts from Grayson's first term in the House. See excerpts of the video here.

More from the Sentinel:

"This is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars, and it goes to show that Alan Grayson is completely out of touch with Central Florida," said state Rep. Kurt Kelly of Ocala, one of seven Republicans looking to unseat Grayson this fall.

"This is just ridiculous behavior. What congressman would do this in the face of a huge budget deficit?" he asked.

Grayson said he doesn't see the video as self-promotional and that its intent was to show residents how the sausage is made in Washington.

"Unless you glom onto C-SPAN, you don't have sense of what congressmen do on a day-to-day basis," Grayson said. "I told people in my district that I would try to be a watchdog, and I think they have a right to know whether I have kept that promise."

Is this what passes for news now-a-days? Republicans bashing a democrat for something they likely do. Close the loophole and stop the whining already..

Hmm, imagine that, you saying "stop the whining" when you in fact are whining.

Hell, you can't even point to incidents where Republicans have done the same thing. Rather, you can only speculate that they "likely do" it also.

Bwahahahahahahahahaha

Why would I want to, it's a non-issue and I don't plan on making it into one. Investigating Rangle was right and worthy of a news story, this is like a news article to complain a congressmen left a 5% tip.. pointless.

The cost of producing and mailing 100k dvd's is comparable to leaving a 5% tip to you? Now I know where the origins of Obamanomics comes from.

He paid for the mailing courtesy of his franking privilege, which permits members to mail with taxpayer money.

Don't forget that to shoot, produce, stamp AND mail the DVD's is the cost here - not just the 50 cents or whatever to mail them,

No I am asking why such a non-issue is getting all this discussion, it screams of one party throwing a tantrum instead of doing something constructive about the situation. ..... .

...
No … as much as you want it to be a “non-Issue” since it is a Dem it is anything but. ANY issue which involves wasting taxpayer money, especially using taxpayer money for campaigning is a BIG issue no matter what party they are from. BTW … yes .. I am a taxpayer.

As for screaming .. the only screaming I hear is you trying once again to marginalize a wrongdoing by a Dem. You seem to do a lot of that lately.

If you really think it is a non-issue then say so and why .. but please quit your whining over it … it is very unbecoming and keeps people from taking your post and comments seriously.

It doesn't matter if it was a republican or democrat, I would feel the same way. I know you won't believe it, but take the blinders off. If it was a republican doing the same thing the only difference would be, I wouldn't say anything against it, because there would already be 10 of you already defending it.



I have said so twice already, it's a NON_ISSUE, and your ultra-partisonship and inability to accept anything you don't believe in prevents you from taking any differing opinion seriously.

It is NOT a NON ISSUE. Congress people are NOT ALLOWED to spend TAX PAYER dollars on campaign activities to try and get reelected !!

Also, it's your ultrapartisanship and inability to accept anything negative about a Democrat that prevents you from taking any differing opinion seriously.

We frakking get it already, in YOU view, if a Dem does it, obviously, it's perfectly acceptable to you.

AFAIK, all Congressmen send election propaganda thinly disguised as status reports. The only thing that makes this any different is possibly the amount spent. But we don't even know how much was spent and how it compares with others' expenditures. This might be the first he sent out in years.

Also, it's your ultrapartisanship and inability to accept anything negative about a Democrat that prevents you from taking any differing opinion seriously.

We frakking get it already, in YOU view, if a Dem does it, obviously, it's perfectly acceptable to you.

It is NOT a NON ISSUE. Congress people are NOT ALLOWED to spend TAX PAYER dollars on campaign activities to try and get reelected !!