Its bad enough that

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It’s bad enough that the likes of Tom Synhorst can clog up your phone with annoying pre-recorded phone messages from Tom DeLay or ambush candidates like John McCain with lurid under-the-radar smears. But should he be able to do it on the government’s dime?

He thinks so. And apparently he’s right.

Synhorst is now behind something called Constituent Calls — a joint venture of Synhorst’s company DCI (now Feather, Larson & Synhorst-DCI) and some other outfit called CallingPost. Constituent Calls is basically a phone-banking operation specializing is peppering your phone with prerecorded messages from your congressman or senator. They can pick a special target audience from amongst their constituents and even get a guarantee on how many people will be annoyed by their message.

Just listen how great it is …

Immediate feed back from constituents is another advantage of this service. Feedback can come in the form of a response keyed in by the constituent receiving the message, or calls to a phone number given in the message. Additionally, you are guaranteed that 80% of your targeted audience will hear your message. We can also send your message during specific times of day, in order to reach people at home or target answering machines.

Now here’s the key. The Constituent Calls website says your Rep or Senator can get the government to pay for this crap out of their franking allowance — the government money members of Congress use to send constituent mail.

Again, from the horse’s mouth …

Automated calls are considered unsolicited mass communications and can be paid for out of the Members’ Representational Allowance when conducted under the guidelines set forth by the Franking Commission. For more information, contact the Franking Commission and/or the Office of Member Services directly.

Is this the best use of government money?

Does this annoy you as much as it annoys me?

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