Congress' franking privileges often abused

From The Raleigh News & Observer:

"In every way these mailings resembled typical campaign ads, except they were paid for by taxpayers and not your campaign," (said) Ellmers, a Republican from Dunn who is challenging Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat.

Franking privileges allow a member of Congress to just put their name on mail, which will then be delivered without a stamp. It's meant to help members keep constituents abreast of things in Washington, D.C.

The mailer in question, The N&O reports, says things like "The issues that matter most to North Carolinians are Bob Etheridge's priorities" and "Main Street over Wall Street."

Those are pretty important updates.