Q? Politicians using op-ed page

[canichelouis]

How common is it for a politician, in this case Senator Rick Santorum, to use the local newspaper for opinion pieces and submitted letters to the editor?

Rick used the PPG once again today. It seems like free publicity to me.

Do other cities publish alot of op-ed pieces by state officials?

Not to forget pieces written by a Communications Director. Rick's has gotten two printed by his guy, under his own name and title, ( and probably alias' also)

I called the paper and got all the dates for 06

1.18.06
1.28
3.6
6.6
6.28
8.8
8.18
9.7.06 (They like 6's and 8's don't they)

Is this common in other states/cities?

I'm writing a letter to the paper

[riona]

1. It's not unusual in our paper

There's a smattering of out-of-state pol's columns too.

[fed-up]

2. Read "Trust Us We're Experts" for the complete story on PR campaigns nt

[sutz12]

3. Yeah, they do....

When I lived in CA, the OC Register did it quite a bit.

The Seattle PI does it too, I've noticed since I moved home.

What is wrong with it, if the writer/politician is clearly identified? We do have free speech rights, and so do they, even the Republicans.

Now, I would be less inclined to like it if the politician had some kind of weekly column or something. That wouldn't be right, but a LTTE or an occasional op-ed column is no big thing.

[Fierce]

4. It's very common.

They need something to fill those pages.

[SteppingRazor]

5. It's common in small and large papers, on both sides of the fence...

Joe Wilson's op-ed in the NYT being a good counter-example to the Santorum example you cited.

[karynnj]

6. Very common

Look at the Senate web site for most Senators. (as example - Kerry's has a place to get speeches/op-eds/statements etc - some of the many many editorials that he has written are included there, although some are under the statement list. Some, like the NYT op-ed on Iraq were in non MA papers. But there are lots of Kerry editorials in the Boston Globe and Boston Herald and even the Lowell Sun and in smaller MA papers. (http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/press/intro.html)

Here's an editorial in this Sunday's Lowell Sun
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=273&topic_id=101111&mesg_id=101138

[zcflint09]

7. It happens from time to time

Of course they'll get published more than your average joe, however, they usually do it in response to an attack or specific issue raised by another politico.