Democratic congressional candidate Bill Hedrick challenged Republican Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-44) to either end his planned egregious abuse of taxpayer-funded Congressional mailers during the weeks leading up to Election Day, or pay taxpayers back the tens of thousands of dollars in public funds it’ll cost us.

Local educators joined Hedrick at a campaign event at Riverside City Hall to challenge Calvert to reimburse taxpayers the minimum $35,000 his office will spend in taxpayer dollars – enough for an average starting salary for a teacher according to the National Education Association – or stop abusing his congressional franked mailing privileges until Election Day.

In a recent newspaper article, Calvert’s office signaled his plan to bill taxpayers at least $35,000 to send official Congressional mail to 100,000 households during election season, circumventing rules ensuring fair elections. Calvert said he’d run around rules banning mass mailings (500+ pieces) during election season by sending more than 200 variations of mailers at 499 apiece. According to House disbursement statements, Calvert’s average per mailer cost is 35 cents.

“The taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout that Congressman Calvert voted for does not extend to taxpayers bailing out his campaign,” Hedrick said to about 30 educators and supporters at the event. “Local taxpayers would much rather have this money spent on local needs, like keeping teachers employed.”

The National Education Association pegs $35,000 as the average starting salary for teachers. Speaking with Hedrick were California Teachers Association board member Mikki Cichocki and Kristy Orona-Ramirez, a laid off teacher from Riverside who spoke about the challenges she and her family face during these economic times.