Matt Wingard rushes to burn taxpayer dollars on his campaign lit
Carla Axtman
Well, well, well....
No wonder Matt Wingard's appointment to the Oregon House was so well coordinated and managed. Nothing saves precious campaign dollars like using taxpayer money instead.
Here is Wingard's TAXPAYER FUNDED mailer to HD 26 (Warning: PDF). I just called the Oregon House Clerk's office. They informed me that an incumbent cannot send out taxpayer funded mail 60 days prior to an election.
Its 62 days until the November election. Looks like Wingard just made it in under the wire.
Wingard's appointment is 4 months long. In the abbreviated time he has in the seat--he's hardly in a position to promise constituents that he can do anything for them. This mailer is nothing but campaign lit no matter how you slice it.
Interesting use of tax dollars for a guy whose entire campaign is predicated on slashing taxes and government waste.
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Sep 3, '08
C'mon, Carla, let him send this one mailing. It will be his first and last!
Surprisingly, there is no mention of the fact that MATT WINGARD IS A CONVICTED CHILD ABUSER.
Go, Jessica Adamson!
Sep 3, '08
Granted he/they waste our tax dollars. But it is amazing how little it takes, dollar wise, for the public to get up in arms, compared to the massive amount frittered away with contempt by regular, PERS grubbing middle management in the civil positions in State government.
I can tell you specifically of a group of 4 IT contractors at DHS that get $120/hour to write a report every six months that says DHS can't do without them...yet, and their contracts are renewed. State law puts a limit on this, but the Director has come to a gentleman's agreement with the AG that there won't be a problem if DHS defines "critical personnel" and then assigns said contractors to the category. Never mind the statute never made any such allowance, that's what Oregon Administrative Rules are for!
And I personally watched as DHS went through budgetary hand wringing, deliberating solemnly on who would have to be laid off. Of course...zero contract personnel, 15!!! field workers. And not just DHS. Every IT department in the State...why does each area have its own...is just the same. Just like "real" business. IT=blank check. And your pecuniary ire turns towards a mailer during an election year. Jefferson was right.
Sep 3, '08
While the need for IT contractors might be questioned, the $120/hr rate is very reasonable. How many hours per year do the contractors get paid. Consider that the burdened cost of an in-house IT person is over $100K these days.
Sep 3, '08
I'm amazed by the lack of substance in his mailer. What a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. Wingard is a hypocrite, an idiot and this better be the last time our money funds his loony agenda.
Sep 3, '08
A Democrat wouldn't waste taxpayer funds on a campaign mailer, would they?
10:47 p.m.
Sep 3, '08
Flat Earther... you seriously had to go all the way to New Hampshire to find a Democratic example?
Wow. You're not very good at the Google, are you?
The point is this: Matt Wingard sent a mailer at taxpayer's expense, just 62 days before the election, before he's actually done anything for his constituents.
Sep 3, '08
Kari, it's not quite fair to say he hasn't done ANYTHING for his constituents.
He did abuse his child after all. That's something.
And he's only been "in office" for one week. Give him a little more time to abuse more kids.
Sep 4, '08
Kari, you don't understand. If any Democrat anywhere did anything at any time that could be construed as similar to what a Republican does, then the Republican gets a free pass.
Remember, Republicans don't have any standards or principles of their own. They use the least principled Democrat they can find as a moral guide.
Sep 4, '08
I seem to recall a series of "public service" announcements from DHS featuring governor Kulongoski in an old folk's home talking about elder abuse. They ran for weeks and weeks after the 2006 primary as the Saxton campaign was gaining momentum. Saxton, of course, was paying for his own ads. We were paying for the gov's.
9:30 a.m.
Sep 4, '08
Anon:
If that's the case with Ted (and I don't recall that it is..but I'll give you the benefit..) Why does that make Wingard's burning of taxpayer dollars okay...especially given his hardcore "anti-tax" and "government is wasting our money"? stances?
Please illuminate.
Sep 4, '08
It doesn't. They are both in the wrong. My point is everybody does it... D's and R's... Wu does it, Walden does it.. I get all kinds of mailers from Dingfelder (my rep) when she's up for reelection. Hell, the city council does it too. Just watch for mailers from BES in two years when Saltzman is up again. All these electeds (or in Wingards case, appointeds) do this kind of crap.
And they are all wrong to be doing it.
But it ain't just Wingard.
10:49 a.m.
Sep 4, '08
Anon:
No, everybody doesn't do it.
I live in Wu's district. And while I have plenty of policy disagreements with him, I get a franked mail piece from him about once a year--not just a short time before reelection. That's a far cry from what we're seeing from Wingard.
Further, I don't see the elected folks you listed as premising their entire reason for office on tax cuts and government waste--which Wingard has done and continues to do. Given that the guy is so torqued up about government spending..then spending taxpayer money on his campaign literature is hypocritical to the "enth" degree.
11:30 a.m.
Sep 4, '08
Anon (oh you're so brave) ---
Y'know, I worked with Kulongoski's 2006 campaign -- and what you've described doesn't ring a bell with me at all. Can you provide some details - a source, a link, anything? In particular, with respect to the timing.
Sep 4, '08
Perhaps Anon is thinking of THIS year's GORDON SMITH ads paid for by the DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE? (Easy mistake)
They're so messaged up that I'm betting the ads were produced by someone working with the Smith campaign, and only paid for by the DoC.
Sep 4, '08
Kari, They aired them during the early morning network news. You can search the Hillsboro Argus archives... Jayne Carroll wrote a column about it. Dave Lister wrote about it in his column in Brainstorm. Summer of '06. I think Reinhard picked up on it too.
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