Ben Franklin’s Privilege and Gordon Smith

As noted both here and elsewhere Gordon Smith, has gotten in a little trouble by using his Senatorial franking privileges to send Portland mail lauding his work with Hillary Clinton and forgetting to send it to conservative Eastern Oregon. Since franking privileges are fairly obscure, I thought I would discuss them here.

Franking,the ability to send free mail concerning one’s official duties, is a holdover from British rule, dating to the original creating of the British General Post Office in 1660. In the US franking predates the country, as the First Continental Congress granted its members franking privileges and the First United States Congress granted franking privileges in its first session. Early on franking privileges were reffered to as Franklin privileges, after Benjamin Franklin, the first Postmaster General. In the 1870s, franking was briefly banned. Exceptions soon made that ban meaningless, and full privileges were restored in the 1890s.

Currently Senate Rule XL governs Senator’s franking privileges. In terms of mass mailers, there are several restrictions that can be found in the Senate Election Law Manual:

5) It is the intent of the Congress that a Member of or Member-
elect to Congress may not mail as franked mail—
(A) mail matter which constitutes or includes any article, ac-
count, sketch, narration, or other text laudatory and com-
plimentary of any Member of, or Member-elect to, Congress on
a purely personal or political basis rather than on the basis of
performance of official duties as a Member or on the basis of
activities as a Member-elect;

Considering that Senator Smith did not include any bill numbers as is customary of such fanked mail, one could make a good argument that some claims violate this law. Smith’s claim that he is fighting for additional head start funding is especially problematic, considering that according to OpenCongress.org
Smith has not sponsored or co-sponsored any legislation about Head Start during the 110th Congress. At the same time such luminaries as Orin Hatch are co-sponsors of the Head Start reauthorization.

Look at the flier, and decide for yourself.

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Tags: OR-Sen, Gordon Smith, Franking, Head Start