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Nancy Johnson Rips Off Taxpayers
By William T. Barrante, Watertown
Last Friday, when I got home, I found we had received a four-page flyer from Representative Nancy Johnson, who now represents the 6th District in Congress and who is running to be elected to Congress in the new 5th District. If Mrs. Johnson is trying to get my vote, she should not have included as a first-page item a statement telling us how proud she is to have "been a leading advocate of the landmark campaign finance reform bill that was signed into law by the President." She doesn't tell us that President Bush signed the bill reluctantly, mainly because the new law would hurt the Democrats more than the Republicans. Mrs. Johnson writes that in addition to banning "soft money," the new law "also prohibits ads for candidates masquerading as issue ads." Too bad the new law does not prohibit campaign flyers masquerading as congressional newsletters.
Mrs. Johnson took an oath to defend the United States Constitution. Now she is "proud" to have voted for a bill that rips the First Amendment in half. Any person or private organization should have the freedom to purchase a radio or television ad that advocates the election or defeat of any congressional candidate. It should not have to be disguised as an "issue ad." And no person or organization should have to organize as a political action committee in order to run such ads.
The people do not need the government's permission to take part in election campaigns. The National Rifle Association, for example, should be allowed to purchase radio and TV ads urging the election of the Concerned Citizens Party candidate, Joseph Zdonczyk, to Congress. These are ads that Mr. Zdonczyk could not afford to buy himself. If Mrs. Johnson really wants to level the playing field, then groups who support Mr. Zdonczyk's philosophy should be able to weigh in on his behalf. A politician who has a campaign war chest as big as Nancy Johnson's should not be complaining about "the flow of big money into the system."
Just above the address label on Mrs. Johnson's flyer is the notation: "This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense." Our representative in Congress thus used tax funds to send out what is essentially a piece of campaign literature. The law, of course, allows thisâ014and people like Nancy Johnson in the Congress wrote that law. This just gives me another reason to vote against Nancy Johnson and for Joe Zdonczyk.
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