Leaning to the Right Index of Articles
Big Name Politicians
Everyone by now should have taken notice of all the Louisiana Department of Agriculture stickers on store scanners, gas pumps, weigh scales etc. These are those cute little, state required, yellow stickers that cost business owners $35.00 each. They are supposed to keep consumers from getting overcharged by business owners who use these devices.
These LDAF stickers are everywhere you look and include the
name of the Commissioner, Bob Odom. If you look at them closely you will notice
that Bob Odom’s name appears larger and bolder than the surrounding text.
Out of curiosity, I measured the size of the text on one of these stickers, and
found that the Bob Odom name is approximately 50% larger than his department
name and approximately 20% larger than his elected title. After looking at what
other elected officials are doing it appears to be a common practice. It’s my
opinion that elected officials are essentially using taxpayer money to promote
their name more so than the department they were elected to run. This practice
is done on advertisements; state required stickers and everywhere you look.
The next time you see an advertisement or one of these LDAF stickers be sure and
check out the SIZE of the elected officials name. Almost all politicians do it.
When campaigning for office I think it is an acceptable practice to place
emphasis on your name by making it larger. Afterall the candidate is paying for
it. When the taxpayer is paying for it, they need to exercise some restraint.
What is Bob Odom’s name doing on gas pumps anyway? What
does the Department of Agriculture and
Forestry (LDAF) have to do with gasoline pumps? Was does the LDAF have to do
with video rentals at the local video store or a clothing store that uses bar
code scanners? Wouldn’t it make sense to place the control of weighing and
measuring devices under the Weights and Measures Division of the Louisiana State
Police?
If politicians and elected officials would do big things, and some have, they would not have to look for other ways to give themselves a big name. Some politicians do big things to get a big name…others just make their name bigger!
JOE (just thought I would see what my name would look like if I made it bigger)