Trying to estimate the cost of Garth Turner's franked mail campaign
With some insight from a postal worker, I can start to put some potential costs to the taxpayer to advertise Garth Turner's Lost Tory Tour.
Update: Made some changes now that I have some more hard data on the way these mailings work.
In my last several posts, I've been considering the mail sent ahead of Garth Turner's speaking tour. Here's what we know.
- The mail cames from 16 different MPs, including Garth Turner.
- These MPs sent mail, in envelopes, directly to specific addresses, addressed by family name.
- The envelope contained information about where Garth Turner would be speaking.
From a postal worker in Calgary:
This was a mass mailing in the Calgary area. I would guess at LEAST 20,000 pieces in this city alone.
I have a little over 400 calls on my route,a mix of apts.and houses. I recieved 22 pieces of Garth's [flyer envelopes],which is about 5% of the residences. I extrapolated those figures over the points of call in Calgary.
I've reduced it down to the numerical aspects of his observations. I encourage you to check out his full comments.
Garth Turner is visiting LaBroquerie, Calgary, Winnipeg, Regina, Duncan, Victoria, Vancouver, Abbotsford, Kelowna, Edmonton, Red Deer, and Lethbridge. The combined population of these cities is just over 5.6 million people. If Calgary, with a population of just over 1,000,000 souls, received 20,000 flyers delivered by franked mail, then extrapolating we would estimate that over 100,000 letters were sent to individual households to advertise Garth Turner's tour.
If these flyers were delivered at bulk rates, let's say five cents a piece, then the cost to the taxpayer would have been $5,000. Update: It turns out it costs about $20 for the House of Commons to send 4,000 flyers, or $500 to send 100,000 Garth Turner flyers. That would mean that But we've seen how these anonymous flyers have been delivered to individual residences in personalized addressed envelopes, but with no stamps. That's call franked mail, and every MP can send them. Franked mail is to ensure every MP and every Canadian can stay in touch regardless of ability to pay. It's not meant as a way of delivering anonymous flyers. Tthe cost to sort and deliver franked mail is charged to the House of Commons by Canada Post. The House pays this charge out of the common budget for parliamentary functions, and not out of individual MP budgets.
A mysterious group of 15 MPs is helping Garth Turner out sending out these flyers.
Franked mail costs the same as first class mail -- same amount of sorting and so forth required. Say with the envelope and paper, the cost comes out to sixty cents a piece. That would be an expenditure of $60,000 to deliver these junk flyers via envelope ahead of Garth Turner's tour, and charged to you and me.
These are wild arm-waving estimates, so keep a sense of perspective. The expenditure might be much less or much more. But no one is revealing just how much tax money was spent to support Garth Turner's Lost Tory Tour, so it's the best we can do right now.
Who is paying for this?
MP Turner and his wife Dorothy are using flights allocated in his existing office budget. Local volunteers are providing ground transportation. Most hotel rooms have been donated. Other costs will be paid personally by Turner. The goal is zero public cost.
Well, somewhere between zero and $60,000, I'd say. And it could have cost as little as $500 or so.
Check out other entries from the Garth Turner Lost Tory Tour category
Results will open in a new window.
Skew my story on Skewz.com
Rate political news for their bias, read related stories, and leave your own skewed commentary
Search for more opinions from Canadian bloggers on these related keywords
Garth Turner Lost Tory Tour franked mail Liberal Party Canada
Sphere presents related news articles and blog posts
Sphere It!
Comments
Steve - another cost that you have not allocated for is the fact that these pieces of mail need to be stuffed by hand. I know that his local Milton office (and maybe the Parliament Hill office too) staff spend some of their time stuffing envelopes for franked mail. To be fair, from time to time he has received help from volunteers but the bulk of the work falls to his staff.
Stuffing 100,000 envelopes by hand takes a lot of time - and if they are being paid 10-20 bucks an hour to work in the MP's office - what might that envelope stuffing cost add up to?
Do constituents in the other 15 ridings mind that the time & effort of their MP's staff is being used not for local purposes but to advertise Turner's tour?
So how much is it really costing Halton (and other ridings) taxpayers to have this franked mail stuffed to be sent out west? And how does this benefit Halton in the short or long run?
Posted by: Been to his Office at September 8, 2007 12:23 PM
Since Garth is such a forthright person, ahem, he will give all the true details of his expense account, ahem, ahem.
The biggest story we await is how many showed up to hear the Great Garthicle speaketh?
His Party must really be counting on him to get results, after all, money is in short supply, it's slim pickings in Liberal Land for leaps of faith or shots in the dark.
Posted by: Libby at September 8, 2007 12:37 PM
I REALLY hope someone video taped the Garth Turner "sermons from the mount" and posts them on youtube!
Posted by: Paul M at September 8, 2007 04:07 PM
That would be an expenditure of $60,000 to deliver these junk flyers via envelope ahead of Garth Turner's tour, and charged to you and me.
Chump change, in the scheme of things. There are much bigger ripoffs going on right under your nose, but they are either cloaked with such religious zeal or considered to be so obscure or mundane that no one is interested in even discussing them. [Translation: Conservative hacks are for more interested in tilting the rackets in their favor than they are in dismantling them]
Posted by: at September 8, 2007 04:26 PM
Yeah, a bit of "chump change" here and there, it's only people's money, spoken like a true Liberal who has no respect for our money.
Conservatives haven't had time to dismantle the "rackets", too many for a minority government to even put a dent in over a period of a year and a half. At least its encouraging to have an admission there were rackets.
The next racket will be the adoption of a Puffin, we'll have to feed it too.
Posted by: Libby at September 8, 2007 06:35 PM
Something just struck me as funny: Garth has elevated himself to "Canada's LEADER in DIGITAL Democracy" - all because he has a Blog like hundreds of thousands do but I digress.
So, Canada' LEADER in DIGITAL democracy then spends $100,000 or more of taxpayer's money to travel IN PERSON with a slide show!!!!!
Garth calls this taxpayer money their MP "allowances" - Liberals sure will find a way to spend taxpayer money using any loophole or justification.
Also, I'll just bet the Income Trust investor lobbyists are feeling pretty clever having the taxpayer pay for their very own lobbyist to come a visiting.
Posted by: Lorraine at September 8, 2007 07:16 PM
Tell me who paid for the paper for these 100,000 flyers, 5000 sheets of paper costs at least $20. as well as the 100,000 envelopes, 500 envelopes is $10.00 so I guess 100,000 would be around $2000. There is also the cost of the printing even photo copies by the gov't are not free.
So I guess garth's free trip ain't quite so free after all.
Posted by: nemississs at September 8, 2007 08:20 PM
Garth on his forum continues to stonewall when asked to provide the names of the 15 MPs who assisted him. I doubt he will reveal which Liberal MPs are involved in his tour. Garth is flaunting everybody by refusing to name names, in his usual high-handed manner. The Liberal MSM will not make an issue of Garth's disengenuity, but if he was a Conservative MP they would be painting the newspapers and TV screens with and organized slagging campaign.
Keep up the good work, Steve, and perhaps the Liberal pus pimple will burst in all it's gory ...!!!!!
Posted by: Observer at September 8, 2007 09:35 PM
This matter can be cleared up by one peron.Garth,we are waiting.
Posted by: GruntledPostie at September 9, 2007 12:41 AM
This matter can be cleared up by one person.Garth,we are waiting.
Posted by: GruntledPostie at September 9, 2007 12:41 AM
...ah, it pays to advertise.
Posted by: tomax7 at September 9, 2007 06:41 AM
Garth is right up there with Al Gore who claims he invented the internet!!!!
Delusions gone amok.
Posted by: Libby at September 9, 2007 10:13 AM
The irony is that - had the "Turner 15" simply sent these flyers out as 10-percenters - they could've spent $10,000 instead of $60,000, and reached twice as many households! (Note that your postie source said about 5% of households on his walk were receiving the letters.) Of course, none of this matters since it doesn't come out of Garth's pocket nor does it come out of his office budget; some nameless, faceless parliamentary office will pick up the tab...
I'm reminded of something Senator Fred Thompson (currently running for the Republican presidential nomination down south) said tongue-in-cheek upon first arriving in Washington D.C.: "Being a Senator takes some getting used to - the other day I accidentally spent some of my own money!"
Posted by: Tom at September 10, 2007 06:41 PM
It appears clear that (at least)15 (Liberal) MP's are using House of Commons funds to send invitations (to hear Garth) to specific people.
As one of the many "over 55" Canadians (who could be directly affected by changes to Income Trust legislation,) I want to know from where this list of invitees is generated, and whether my name and address is on said list.
Posted by: john at September 11, 2007 11:06 AM
 
|
|
