State legislators in tough primary fights use public money for mailings on cutting spending
Volker and Hoyt sending out fliers
It’s an election year, time for state lawmakers around New York to crow about their job performance on the public’s dime.
State Sen. Dale M. Volker, R-Depew, is doing it. So is Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo.
Both are in tough party primary contests that will be decided next month.
Consider this mailer Volker sent around his district at taxpayer expense:
“It’s time for Albany to stop wasting our money,” it says.
There’s a picture of hard-earned cash spilling from a wastebasket — a wrong that Volker, it seems, intends to right.
Hoyt sent out four mailers in a week.
“In a perfect world, I would communicate one-on-one with everyone in my district, but I can’t,” he said. “I think it’s totally appropriate to let my bosses know what I did in Albany.”
By “bosses,” he means the taxpayers.
One of his mailers tells about recent legislation guarding consumers from credit thieves.
It offers a motto: “Assemblymember Hoyt: Working for you.”
And a pledge: “I will always fight to ensure public safety and continue to work for new and better ways to protect Buffalo and Grand Island residents.”
Hoyt’s opponent for the 144th Assembly district, Democrat Barbra Kavanaugh, says he has crossed the line; Gov. David A. Paterson just proposed $1 billion in budget cuts.
“There is no way that the incumbent can claim that the cost of producing and mailing these newsletters is a good value for his constituents,” she said.
Volker’s opponents this summer have found five mailings from the senator to the residents of his 59th District. Volker finds himself in an unusual election. He’s a senior senator first elected to state office in 1972, yet he faces a Republican primary opponent forcing him to spend earlier than usual. A Democrat will be waiting for him in the November general election.
Meanwhile, Volker’s Republican conference in the Senate has its collective back to the wall. If the Republicans lose just one seat this year, their decades-long control of the Senate will likely end.
“My personal feeling is that, any time we can get a moment to talk about wasteful spending, we should do it,” Volker said, clarifying that he’s especially concerned about the wasteful spending created by downstate legislators at upstate expense.
Volker says his most recent mailing, the one saying government needs to tighten its belt, was among his last for this year. Both the Senate and Assembly impose a bulk-mail moratorium that begins about a month before Primary Election Day.
His opponents have noticed his mail in the Senate’s 59th District.
“When he says in one piece that Albany needs to stop wasting money, and then it’s paid for by the taxpayers, that is absolutely hypocritical,” said Kathy Konst, a Democratic county legislator from Lancaster hoping to oppose Volker in the general election. “The only way that you are going to level the playing field is to eliminate their ability to do that. It is an unfair advantage.”
The other Democrat in the field is Elma lawyer Timothy Pawarski, who said he favors a hard cap not just on how much can be spent by a legislator, which exists now, but on how many mailings can go out in a year. He said four for each legislative session would be plenty.
Volker’s Republican challenger has a similar opinion.
“You are supposed to use your mailing privileges in office to inform voters. He is using his mailers for political reasons,” said David DiPietro, the former East Aurora mayor running in a party primary. “These are blatant political mailers.”
DiPietro said that if elected he would not send out a taxpayer-financed mailer within 60 days before a primary. Konst said she would agitate for solid rules that would force incumbents to show that their mail is intended to provide information, not a campaign advantage.
News staff reporter Phil Fairbanks contributed to this report.
mspina@buffnews.com and pfairbanks@buffnews.com
