Steve Buyer'S Breaking Of His Public Campaign Financing Pledge And Abuse Of Congressional Privileges

Thursday, August 17, 2006—Dr. David Sanders, candidate for the office of U.S. Representative for the 4th Congressional District of the State of Indiana, appeared at a press conference at 10:00 AM Thursday, August 17, 2006 at the Tippecanoe County Democratic Headquarters, 320 Main Street in Lafayette.

"Many candidates believe that campaign promises are meant to be broken. I disagree.

"Congressman Buyer made numerous promises in order to get elected during his first campaign: a term-limits pledge, a balanced-budget pledge, etc. One was a pledge to vote for public financing of Congressional campaigns. Immediately after he became a Congressman he broke his promise.

"Congressman Buyer has apparently changed his mind again. He has decided to have taxpayers pay for his current campaign.

"Many people received this card in the mail last week. It was full of deceptive material, but that didn't seem unusual for a campaign mailing. What shocked me was these words, which were in very small type and rather hard to read:

THIS MAILING WAS PREPARED, PUBLISHED, AND MAILED AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE.

"I wouldn't be surprised if most people missed that text.

"This mailing was sent as close to the election as legally possible. There can be no doubt that this is nothing more than a campaign advertisement paid for by taxpayer money. It is not a service to constituents; it is self-promotion by Congressman Buyer. I have never previously seen such an abuse of Congressional mailing privileges. It is a desperate attempt by Congressman Buyer to distract the voters from his assault on the benefits of living veterans. Congressman Buyer has betrayed every interest he promised to defend and has left a trail of broken promises."