Franking hath its privledges for Schock

From Wikipedia:

"The franking privilege is a perk which grants an elected official the right to send mail through the postal system for free, often simply by signing his or her name where the postage stamp would normally be placed.

"In theory, elected officials and the postal service are both paid for by the taxpayer. The postal service represents a fixed cost - that is, adding the official's mail to the existing mailstream does not change the postal system's total costs. The franking privilege allows elected officials to send official mail without creating accounting transactions that, at the total government level, will cancel each other out.

"In practice, the franking privilege is applied to more than just the official mail necessary for the conduct of the office. Franking is one of the largest advantages of incumbency, contributing to a very high reelection rate in the U.S. legislative branch.

In the United States, members of the House and Senate are allowed this privilege."

And so are members of the Illinois House of Representatives. Last residents of certain parts of Peoria -- but not all of them -- received mailers similar to this one from State Rep. Aaron Schock.(R-92nd District). This one ended up in the mailbox of a Central Bluff resident. Judging by the text alone, it's supposed to be an announcement of an innocent neighborly get-together with various elected and unelected officials to discuss "issues important two our community." More than 5,200 of these were mailed.

But the presentation suggests something completely different. There's Rep. Schock's handsome face, taking up nearly one-fourth of the page, right next to the names of City Council Representative Barbara Van Auken and Peoria Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard.

In my opinion, this mailer was designed to create an impression that Van Auken and Settingsgaard are supporters of Schock, who will face a difficult challenge from Peoria City Council member Bill Spears.

But that is not the case. Van Auken is supporting Spears, a fellow Democrat, a friend and an ally on the Peoria City Council. Chief Settingsgaard, as a public employee, isn't allowed to endorse candidates, and if he were, it's doubtful he would support someone running against one of his bosses.

This is what I understand to have happened: Van Auken initially declined to attend, but agreed to do so at the urging of constituents who assured her the event was non-political. She was caught by surprise at the flyer and its implication of support for Schock politically, and thinks that some of her constituents might have been mislead about the event's real intent. Settingsgaard also was reluctant to attend, but similarly was assured that the event was supposed to be non political.

Its normal and natural for both Van Auken and Settingsgaard to want to meet with citizens in these sorts of settings. Settingsgaard, who has held his job for slightly more than one year, has made it a point to improve communication between the police and private citizens.

There are other reasons why there are concerns over this mailing. A similar one to residents of the Peoria County Board's 1st District announces a meeting with the principal of Harrison School and "vocalist" Pat Ward, who is a candidate the county board. It begs the question: How can someone who is not currently an office holder be expected to inform the public authoritatively on "state and local issues important to our community."

It suggests these events are more political than educational. Any electioneering at all, and the event becomes political. That means if any candidate asks anyone for their vote, the mailing becomes an illegal use of state funds, according to one politician which whom I spoke.

The mailing has understandably caused Spears and Van Auken to have a discussion about the situation, and he's OK with her explanation. Settingsgaard may back out, but there's bound to be a complaint made to Peoria City Manager Randy Oliver (not from Spears, however).