Less political mail would upset few

Cutting the money spent on legislative mail to constituents may be a small thing in terms of overall state spending. It will certainly not fix the current $500 million budget deficit, or the shortfall of a few billion dollars that looms in the next couple of years, but it would indicate lawmakers have their priorities straight.

Norwich state Rep. Christopher Coutu, a Republican, has proposed cutting by half the amount of mail that state senators and representatives send to their constituents on the taxpayers' dime. The cost of postage is about $1.5 million annually. The added expense of printing was not immediately available.

Senators can send out the equivalent of about 1,000 pieces of mail weekly, representatives 500, in addition to an annual report that all lawmakers are entitled to send. That seems excessive, particularly in tough fiscal times. While the fliers provide some legitimate legislative information, they also promote the incumbent by focusing on positive news and achievements.

Cutting back appears reasonable. And as some readers suggested when commenting on theday.com, why not make better use of e-mail? Voters who want to receive regular updates from their lawmakers can register their e-mail addresses. It would be much cheaper.

If legislators aren't ready to do something as relatively painless as cutting this questionable expense, how serious will they get about making the tough choices? We suspect that less legislative mail will not result in a flood of calls from unhappy constituents.