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Dear Editor,
“Watch what they do, not what they say” is a common refrain amongst the activist network. And it’s largely true. Politicians are best known for their innate ability to spin the narrative to fit their agenda all the while selling out their constituents. There are exceptions to the rule of course, but they’re uncommon.
Congressman Norman is known to rail against the special interests, career politicians (crooks as he calls them), and reckless spending. He’s a “taxpayer hero” with all the accolades from the “scorecard groups.” Many might think that Norman is one such exception to the rule, but sadly they’re sorely mistaken. He’s just another politician saying what you want to hear with a record that says otherwise.
Setting aside his inability to get anything meaningful accomplished and his lengthy tenure as a career politician, the most egregious example recently is his astonishing abuse of congressional franking. To put it simply, ripping off the taxpayers to advance his own career.
For those uninitiated, congressional franking is a privilege congressmen have to communicate with their constituents. This is ordinary and helpful. It usually means newsletter mailers to constituents or sometimes billboards with contact information offering constituent services. Certainly it helps build their recognition in the community, but it serves a genuine purpose of informing and helping the citizens they serve.
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There’s not always a clear distinction of when franking communications go too far. Timing, media type, and content play a large role in understanding if the intent is helping the people or helping the politician. TV commercials 3 months before an election for example would raise legitimate questions. It’d be even worse if the commercials were overtly political and aligned with campaign messaging. That’s exactly what Congressman Norman did earlier this year.
Congressman Norman spent nearly half a million dollars of taxpayer funds on TV commercials leading into the upcoming Republican primary. The theme and message was perfectly aligned with his campaign. In fact, the taxpayer funded commercials were exactly parallel to his campaign funded commercials. It wasn’t just a lapse in his record, it was a complete betrayal of his constituents. At the moment when he could do the right thing, he chose the self-serving route. This goes beyond government waste, it’s outright fraud.
It’s also surprising that his top supporters in the Freedom Caucus turned a blind eye to this blatant indiscretion. Adam Morgan, April Cromer, Josiah Magnuson, Jordan Pace and many others who carry the banner for fiscal conservatism in our state abandoned their principles. For those that claim moral superiority, their silence exposes their hypocrisy. If it were an “establishment” politician wasting money like this they would be shouting from the rooftops, but since it’s their chosen leader they have decided to stay in the bunker.
The reality is that Congressman Norman is no better than any other politician. He’s actually worse because his intent is deceit. When we watch what he does, we can ignore what he says.
Sincerely,
Frank Wright
Fountain Inn, S.C.
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FROM THE EDITOR…
Frank. We appreciate your letter. As you may recall, we covered this issue as it happened.
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SOUND OFF…
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