When Will These Guys Learn?

Pennsylvania Independent reports on two PA House contracts for voter lists, costing taxpayers over $225,000. Readers will recognize that this sounds quite a bit like the actions of former Republican speaker John Perzel, who was indicted for using taxpayer funds for data mining, to win elections.

Of course, this time they tell us its OK, because its “bipartisan”, and for legitimate legislative expenses – like sending mailers to constituents (segment by how often they voted) with fancy photos of lawmakers appearing in parades.

But even if one was naive enough to believe that voter lists were the only way to reach constituents, or that the mailings lawmakers send out are important information that constituents could not do without, this is still and exorbitant waste of taxpayer dollars. The PA Department of State sells the entire statewide voter lists for a whopping 20 bucks! And with the nation’s largest legislative staff, you’d think someone would be able to use that database.