New York Library Fliers Promote Politicians Who Help the Library

The New York Sun reports on those who help elected politicians :

Thousands of glossy fliers packed with color photographs of elected officials that were paid for by the Queens Library are drawing criticism from those who say the public library system should be using its limited resources to buy books and pay librarians, not to promote politicians.

The four-page fliers distributed earlier this month thank Mayor Bloomberg; the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, and 17 other council members for restoring funding for six-day library service in the city's budget this year. Of the library's 16,000 fliers, 9,000 were mailed to library supporters. The rest were spread out among library branches.

Sensitivity to the use of public funds to promote elected officials is high at City Hall, with the council approving a new set of rules last month barring members from using public funds to purchase self-promoting advertisements. The change occurred after a report from an advocacy group found council members spent $927,507 in public funding on advertisements during a five-and-a-half-year stretch between July 2001 and December 2006.

Bribe?