Have you ever wonder what is Erik Paulsen (R-MN-03) Number One priority ?
That’s simple …
“Getting Minnesotans back to work continues to be my number one priority,” said Rep. Paulsen. “Ultimately, Washington needs to be focused on long term solutions to reform the tax code and the way Washington spends taxpayer’s money.”
Have you ever wonder what is Erik Paulsen (R-MN-03) Number Two priority ?
While those that are TaxEnoughAlready wait for his answer, let’s look at how Minnesota House members are spending your monies on mailings :
SummaryTabulation of Mass Mailings
Distributed by Each Member of the U.S. House of RepresentativesIn accordance with Public Law 104-197 §311 and Resolution 110-10 of the Committee on House Administration, this table summarizes the number and costs incurred of mass mailings distributed via USPS by each Member during the period October 1, 2011 – December 31, 2011. A mass mailing is any unsolicited mailing of substantially identical content distributed to 500 or more persons over the course of the Legislative Year.
Total number of distributed :
290,123 Paulsen (R-03)
283,424 Bachmann (R-06)
174,048 Kline (R-02)
145,407 Walz (D-01)
112,233 Ellison (D-05)
70,322 Cravaack (R-08)
2,500 Peterson (D-07)
2,459 McCollom (D-04)Cost :
$111,241.17 Paulsen (R-03)
$80,307.29 Kline (R-02)
$74,022.00 Walz (D-01)
$47,551.95 Bachmann (R-06)
$38,026.50 Cravaack (R-08)
$33,266.04 Ellison (D-05)
$10,035.00 Peterson (D-07)
$ 344.67 McCollom (D-04)
For the year, Representative Paulsen was the clear winner … winning the First Quarter – $43,527.45 for 329,050 mass mailings distributed; Second Quarter was $2,445.75 for 5,435 mass mailings and the Third Quarter was $58,487.88 for 160,818 mass mailings.
Representative Paulsen is correct though … the Third District needs someone that is concerned about “the way Washington spends taxpayer’s money” … and your mailbox tells you that is not Erik Paulsen.
But, heck, what’s a couple hundred thousand dollars …
It seems that Erik Paulsen is good in mass mailing.
Anyway, this serves an awareness to all. Thanks for sharing this.. Kudos!
Welcome to the Roundtable, Nicole !
Thanks for offering your thoughts.
IMO, Representative Erik Paulsen failed in adhering to the Republican Pledge to American in which House Republican leaders promised to “make Congress do more with less by significantly reducing its budget.” On Jan. 6, 2011, Representative Paulsen took action in voting for a binding resolution that would cut the operating budget of member and committee offices by 5 percent.
According to the office of Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, the resolution prohibits any congressional office from spending more than 95 percent of what they were allowed to spend last year.
Sounds good doesn’t it … well, read carefully what was promised.
Technically, Representative Paulsen met the objective … because the key is that budgets were cut … and since Representative Paulsen spent less than 95% of his budget, it was easy for him to agree to a budget cut … he could have promised a 10% cut and still made that goal.
However, if you look at his actual spending, his spending was barely impacted. Last year, Representative Paulsen’s spending was $1,278,576.30 while this year it was down 1.2% to $1,273,567.46. In fact, Representative Paulsen’s spending as a percentage of his budget was the third highest among the Minnesota delegation … John Kline (R-MN-02) led followed by Michele Bachmann (R-MN-06).
There has been a lot of talk about “freezing” wages of government employees, but if look at Representative Paulsen’s staff salaries, they have increased (while President Obama has frozen White House wages)
For those that feel they are TaxedEnoughAlready, they must ask Representative Paulsen why he cannot reduced his spending ?
[...] Representative Erik Paulsen (R-MN-03) was the clear winner in the Minnesota House delegation in the catagory : Summary Tabulation of Mass Mailings Distributed by Each Member of the U.S. House of [...]
[...] That’s an easy $342,372.07 cut that the Minnesota delegation COULD make TODAY. BTW … “Congrats” to Representative Kline for besting Representative Paulsen who had spent the most in the previous year. [...]