Please Stop Sending Political Snail Mail

Who has time to read all this snail mail? / Photo by Christine N. Ziemba from her personal collection.

And yes, we're talking to you Tony Strickland and Hannah-Beth Jackson.

In of the more heated political races in the LA area, a seat in the state senate for California’s 19th State Senate District is up for grabs between Republican Strickland and Democrat Jackson. The district encompasses most of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and a sliver of northern LA County.

It’s a typical conservative vs. liberal race. But both candidates claim to have the public’s best interests at heart when it comes to the environment. Jackson is endorsed by the Sierra Club for her stance in expanding the use of alternative energy, and Strickland’s strategic goal for his own renewable energy plan is to “transform California to a renewable, energy-efficient economy."

Sure, those promises are all fine and good. But to really take on environmental issues, how about if both candidates (and their backers) started at the very beginning and maybe stopped wasting so much paper. You know, the kind that comes from trees? During the past three days alone, this particular LAist poster has received 15 pieces of snail mail (postcards, info sheets, brochures, etc.) from both candidates.

Some are anti-Strickland (6), some back him (3). The rest are anti-Jackson (2) or support her (4). But go figure, all those messages are getting lost in the shuffle. They're going into the recycle bin with the magazine renewal forms and credit card applications. Junk mail is junk mail no matter how you look at it. And the more you send, the less people are inclined to read it.

We're scared to see what how much mail we get this week from the candidates. Thank goodness Nov. 4 is around the corner.