This one is going to come back to bite him. Recently, Congressman Ed Perlmutter sent out a piece of franked mail, at taxpayer expense, that was pushing a political message on green energy. Not only was that bad timing with Abound Solar laying off 70% of its Colorado staff this week, but Perlmutter was pimping a Danish wind company that has announced plans to lay off 1,600 employees in the US if their subsidies aren't renewed.
Perlmutter has been abusing tax dollars for political campaign mailers for many years now. He's the second worst offender in Colorado after Doug Lamborn.
Besides the ethical problem of Perlmutter using taxpayer dollars to push a political message, there are some basic factual and political problems in the piece as well.
In the franked mail piece, which you can see here, Perlmutter indirectly refers to Vestas Wind Systems as an American company. It's based in Denmark.
He also uses Vestas as an example of a job creator in Colorado, when in fact it is likely to lay off a lot of Coloradans in the not-so-distant future.
Reported Mark Jaffe of The Denver Post back in January:
There could, however, be a cut of 1,600 jobs in the U.S. later this year if a production tax credit is not renewed by Congress, Ditlev Engle, Vestas' chief executive, said at a news conference Thursday in Copenhagen.
The tax credit is set to expire at the end of the year.
It employs about 1,700 people in Colorado.
"The loss of those jobs would be a significant blow to Colorado," said former Gov. Bill Ritter, who worked to bring the plants here.
According to sources in DC, the tax credit renewal is not looking good.
We have a feeling that Perlmutter pimping foreign companies laying off Coloradans by the busload is not going to help him in his Congressional campaign.
As his GOP challenger, Joe Coors Jr, is certain to have the funds to let the voters know of this franked mail piece faux pas, Perlmutter might want to be more careful in crafting his political mailers in the future.
For a politician who is supposedly politically saavy, this is one major and embarrassing mistake.
The reader who sent along the franked mail piece said it brought to mind a couple questions. We'll give them the last word:
"Why is Congressman Perlmutter touting a Danish company cutting U.S. jobs on taxpayer-funded mail? Why does Congressman Perlmutter expect taxpayers to continue to fund these failing businesses like Solyndra? Why is it that he consistently votes to punish Colorado's job creators (i.e., America's Job Act, which is paid for by tax increases on small businesses) while giving tax breaks to foreign companies that are guaranteed by the American taxpayer?"
… don’t forget Tipton.
Granted, this is not franking, but at least franking isn’t a violation of the law. And it’s not like CD-2 voters are known for their “drown the government in the bathtub” philosophy.
Kudos for at least mentioning Lamborn. But I suppose there’s no danger in criticizing him, is there? It’s not like Springs voters truly care about that sort of thing. (It’s not like Lamborn to even be aware of criticism directed at him, either.)
It’s about lying – Vestas being American but really Danish, creating jobs when they’ll probably end up cutting them, and so on. It’s an unforced error, to say the least.
From that same article.
How much did the franked mailers cost to produce and send?
Fretting over every penny (unless it’s for defense) is what you guys do.
What matters is what the rules say. And Tipton broke them. Franking is legal. Write your congressman if you want to see that changed.
BTW, if you believe his official House web site isn’t paid by taxpayers, you’re just the person I think would be interested in this opportunity – a bridge between Manhatten and Brooklyn!
Do you believe everything a spokesman tells you?