Franking abuse

Here's a link to the Register's editorial on abuse of the franking privilege -- Congresscritters being able to send mail out with their signature instead of paying for a stamp. In the election year of 2006 they nicked the taxpayers for $20.3 million for mostly blatantly self-promotional material. There are rules against blatant "vote for me" mailings, but they aren't strict enough. This built-in advantage for incumbents is yet one more reason campaign finance regulations are ill-advised. Maybe they should mhave to personally sign mass mailings instead of having their signature printed. That would be fun.