Election Boosterism

     You may recall my rants against Democrat Ron Sparks and his predecessor Agriculture Commissioners for having their names in BIG type on every gas pump at every gas station in the state.  Republican John McMillan finally did away with it when he was elected.
     It was ham-handed promotion for their candidacy. Who needs to know their name in order to report being overcharged at a gas pump? Just give me the 1-800 number.

     I'm of the same mind when it comes to this display on top of several pages on Republican Secretary of State Beth Chapman's official website. My limited PC-ability right now isn't allowing me to assemble the four pieces (I'm sans Photoshop), but these components make up the top banner on several pages on the site taxpayers pay for, like this page listing the sample ballots.

     Sure, voters want to see the sample ballots, but do they need a full color ad for the SOS on internal web pages too? Besides, why is it labeled a "public service" of the SOS? This is why we pay our Secretaries' of State almost $80k a year, not some favor they provide 'cause they're nice.
     Speaking of Secretaries of State, Democrat Nancy Worley almost admitted what any level-headed person knew all along, it was wrong for her to distribute material for her re-election campaign, complete with donation envelopes, to her staff at work. She entered a "best interest" plea to the least serious of the charges and the rest were dropped...without admitting any guilt in the 2006 events.