Republican political flyers mailed in the region may indicate “US Postage; Paid; The Mailman,” but that doesn’t mean the U.S. Postal Service is paying for GOP literature.
On Friday, Marty Wilder, chair of the McKean County Democratic Party, said she felt “The Mailman” sent the wrong message to voters.
“It’s on a flyer for the Republican Party,” she said. The flyer featured images of Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner, Senate candidate Lou Barletta, congressional candidate Glenn Thompson and state House candidate Martin Causer.
The Era’s call to the Pittsburgh headquarters of the U.S. Postal Service was referred to corporate communications. Spokesman Tad Kelley made a brief statement: “USPS does not own the rights to that phrase. USPS is not endorsing any candidate.”
Wilder was surprised the postal service didn’t appear to be concerned about the perceived implication.
“It’s a little difficult for me to understand why the Postal Service would ignore or even disregard what appears to be an attempt to influence the voting public — especially so close to an election,” she said.
“The Mailman” could be the name of, or a reference to, a printing company.
Marty Causer, incumbent state representative who is facing a challenge from Democrat Maryanne Cole in Tuesday’s general election, said the flyer in question was paid for by the McKean County Republican Party.
“The mail piece says right at the top who pays for it,” he said, referring The Era to an image of the piece he provided. The upper left of the flyer reads, “Paid for by McKean County Republican Committee.”
When asked about the wording “The Mailman,” Causer said, “That’s some kind of postage service” that distributed the mailer.
Wilder said she would be encouraged if the USPS investigated “to make sure ‘The Mailman’ is a legitimate business enterprise, and doesn’t represent an attempt by the Republican Party to imply Postal Service support of its candidates. I think the public deserves an explanation.”
She added, “We have made a complaint to postal authorities and referred the matter to the state Democratic committee for its review since the flyer promotes not just local candidates but those seeking state and federal offices.”
Neither Causer nor McKean County Republican party chair Ken Kane felt the mail piece was confusing.
“We want people in the county to know who paid for it,” Causer said, “because we’re working really hard as a county party to support our candidates.”
Kane said he was baffled by the question.
“It was all done legitimately without any malice or intent,” Kane said.
“You have to put something on there to prove you paid postage,” he said. “It’s not to make any subliminal message.”
Kane said he feels the animosity this election cycle is really a shame.
“The part that is unfortunate is that people can’t agree to have different perspectives,” he said. “That’s the great part of our country. There’s so many different people with different perspectives who pull together. Usually there’s a pretty good outcome when you work together.”
