I wrote the following lte:
To the Editor,As I was reading your article "A Frank Advantage For Incumbents", I was struck with a feeling of familiarity. I remembered that, while running for Congress in 1978 and again in 1980, Frank Wolf would continually complain about the unfair advantages enjoyed by incumbents, particularly Franking.
I decided to do a bit of research to confirm that my almost 30 year old memories were correct and sure enough, I found that they were.
In the Washington Post November 4, 1978 article "Energetic Style, Money Aid Wolf" I found the following:
"If elected, Wolf has said he will ... try to do away with congressional perquisites" and '"I'm not really an aggressive person, but I'm running against an incumbent." said Wolf, who has estimated that congressional service budget, franking privileges and exposure as an office-holder is worth about $1.2 million, much more than either candidate is actually spending on the campaign.'
Goodness, campaign costs have changed in the last 28 years.
I also found the following in the Washington Post August 21, 1980 article "Candidate Wolf: Shaking Each Hand":
'"It's tough, running against an incumbent." Wolf said between bites of hamburger. Then he recited a litany of complaints commonly heard from those who challenge an incumbent, especially resentment of franking privileges and campaign activities disguised as congressional duties.'
I guess things look different once you're inside.
Loudoun County can't afford more business as usual from our representation in Congress.
It is time for a change.
One other paragraph from the 1980 article also caught my eye:
'Wolf says he understands Fisher supporters are everywhere, but he plans to tell voters how strongly Fisher has supported President Carter. He hopes such close identification with a president who is scoring so low in the public-opinion polls will cause Fisher to go down in defeat.'
Now let's change the names (to protect the innocent:)
'Feder says She understands Wolf supporters are everywhere, but She plans to tell voters how strongly Wolf has supported President Bush. She hopes such close identification with a president who is scoring so low in the public-opinion polls will cause Wolf to go down in defeat.'
I guess everything old IS new again.