Is it illegal for US Representatives to send mass mailings within a week of the election

[LiberalFighter]

When the constituent has not made a request or made a call to support or not to support specific legislation?

Many of us here in Indiana's 3rd District received such mailing from Souder.


I should emphasize that he used the franking privilege.

[Recursion]

1. That's one of the advantages of incumbency

A Congresscritter can send out "Hi, I'm your Congressman and here's what I'm working on in Washington" stuff whenever he or she wants. It's usually franked which means we're paying for the postage, too :)

[LiberalFighter]

3. I don't believe they can if I understand what is posted at house.gov

But would like someone who has the experience in this area.

[Recursion]

5. It's a fig leaf, sure

But Representatives can communicate with their constituents as they wish. It's sort of like how pre-527 ads could say whatever they wanted and as long as they didn't say "Vote for Smith" it wasn't "campaigning".

[Eric J in MN]

2. Representatives are supposed to inform the public.

The mailing may seem like a thinly-disguised campaign ad, but that doesn't make it illegal.

[RB TexLa]

4. They can send communication to their constituents any time they wish

[LiberalFighter]

6. So this doesn't apply?

(6)
(A) It is the intent of Congress that a Member of, or Member-elect to, Congress may not mail any mass mailing as franked mail—
(i) if the mass mailing is postmarked fewer than 60 days (or, in the case of a Member of the House, fewer than 90 days) immediately before the date of any primary election or general election (whether regular, special, or runoff) in which the Member is a candidate for reelection; or
(ii) in the case of a Member of, or Member-elect to, the House who is a candidate for any other public office, if the mass mailing—
(I) is prepared for delivery within any portion of the jurisdiction of or the area covered by the public office which is outside the area constituting the congressional district from which the Member or Member-elect was elected; or
(II) is postmarked fewer than 90 days immediately before the date of any primary election or general election (whether regular, special, or runoff) in which the Member or Member-elect is a candidate for any other public office.

[Jamastiene]

7. If you value the privacy of your inbox and the cleanliness of your snail mail box,

NEVER EVER EVER email Robin Hayes from North Carolina to voice your dissent. He will spam the fucking hell out of you for years and years and years after that.

I sent him a dissent email when he voted against including gay people in hate crimes legislation. I can't barely even remember the name of the bill now.

I have since changed email addresses, so that part is now private again...

...but...

Here is a small sampling of what I got (all in one day) in my snail mailbox just the other day:

2 junky assed magazines from the Carolina Conservative

4 invitations to super expensive dinners hosted by the John Locke Foundation, fucking bastards. I tried emailing them to unsubscribe way back when too. That's when they doubled up on the spam and the junk mail. I tried writing them to get them to stop sending me junk mail. They double it again. That's why I now get 4 of everything from them. Luckily I ditched the old email address. They are relentless.

4 anti-Obama mailings saying he was a terrorist, blah, blah, blah

2 anti-Kay Hagan mailings saying she was godless (proof that Hayes and Liddy Dole share addresses)

and

I have received a phone call a night from the John McCain campaign for the last 3 weeks straight.

If it is illegal for any of them to send out shit this close to the election, nobody told the fucking Republicans...either that or they REALLY ARE above the law.