The mailing cost taxpayers about $60,000 and went to 162,000 households of folks who voted in the 2002-04 general elections according to Yarmuth's spokesman. The bold headline on the four page color mailer says "Congressman John Yarmuth Delivering for Louisville".
The inside pages describe six things that Yarmuth claims he's had a hand in, like passing a minimum wage law and getting more help for emergency responders. U of L political science professor Jasmine says the Yarmuth mailers are a legal, appropriate way for him to communicate with his constituents. However, she says Yarmuth leaves voters with the impression that all six items have passed congress and become law, when in fact, they're tied up in the U.S. Senate. Yarmuth says the average congressman spends about $200,000 a year on franked mail, and he's about right, based on previous stories I'd done about the mailings of former Rep. Anne Northup and other Kentucky congressmen.

On other issues: Yarmuth says he's sticking with his promise not to take a salary. Yarmuth says he's donating his congressional salary, about $100,000 after taxes, to Louisville charities.

He says Attorney General Greg Stumbo's decision to cut a deal with Gov. Fletcher was probably a mistake from a legal standpoint. Yarmuth says Fletcher should have stood trial like any other Kentuckian. He doesn't know if it was a mistake politically.

Yarmuth says the VA is searching for land for a new VA hospital in downtown Louisville near University Hospital, but the chances of finding 35-50 acres is bleak. Yarmuth says he's not sure local folks will have much input in the site selection for a new hospital but he'll encourage the VA to build vertically, a tall hospital, instead of abandoning the idea of building downtown because of the lack of available property.

Another story I did on TV last week was Yarmuth's assertion that there's more support in Bowling Green and E-town for the Ohio River bridges project than there is in Louisville. Until there's political consensus on the projects, Yarmuth says, the bridges and redesign of spaghetti junction won't happen. The head of Louisville's legislative delegation, Rep. Joni Jenkins told me she's "not optimistic" that the bridges will ever be built. Jenkins says some Louisville lawmakers want to scrap the idea and look for alternatives to Louisville's transportation needs. A committee of Kentuckiana regional business and interest groups has been formed to launch a P.R. campaign to convince folks in our area that the new bridges are needed for the future economic health of Louisville and the rest of Kentucky. Hoosiers are pretty solidly behind the project but Indiana is only responsible for about 1/3 of the cost.

Yarmuth says U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shouldn't have said the "war is lost", not because Yarmuth disagreed, but because Yarmuth says the war in Iraq can't be couched in terms of won or lost. Yarmuth says he has no idea what a "win" would be and doesn't think the American people know either.