Thanks to Mike Cote for a useful reality check on the extent to which a mailer, already in process, could be stopped in its tracks.
I think Mike makes an excellent point. However, the bigger question is whether Working America et al. are planning to run negative TV ads, which indeed can be stopped on short notice, and whether they will heed Walsh’s wish to avoid personal attacks.
Does anyone remember how SNAIL Mail works?
Seriously, I have used bulk mail in the past and you need to go to the post office and buy a bulk mailing permit, and then you need to include the bulk mailing permit in the area where a stamp would normally go, before you print the mailer. Then you need to send the front and back to the printer, where they need to split into 3 color separation. And THEN and only THEN, do you start printing, which takes time.
Then, you need to take the mailings to a mailing distributer or a bulk house like Work Inc, to either transfer the labels onto the mailing, or run them through a secondary printing to print the addresses directly onto the mailing.
THEN and ONLY THEN, the mailing is taken to either by the printer or the mailing house or the originator of the mailing to the Fort Point Post Office near South Station and weighed and accepted. If I am not mistaken, I believe you need to get them to Fort Point Post Office before 5PM.
So, depending on the use of labels and a mailing house or a combined mailing house/print shop, this mailer was probably already out of the hands of the originator of the mailing (and in the hands of the Post Office) by Monday, possibly earlier, so expecting that this mailing could be stopped based on something Marty Walsh said at WGBH last night around 7PM is absurd.
I would suspect that this mailing was probably already printed and sorted within the Post Office by last Saturday, so the simple TIMEY-WHIMEY Cause and Effect steps that you need to get to a bulk Mailing arriving in voters mailboxes today, in any way, being able to be stopped as of 7PM last night is ridiculous and totally unrealistic!
JimC says
Is the premise here that an outside organization is supposed to spend a lot of extra time and money to not send its mailer (which cost time and money to prepare) because someone didn’t like it?
Pretty high bar.
dasox1 says
Is this some sort of rationalization for why unions cannot heed Walsh (the guy they support) concerning their sleazy, class-baiting tactics? Absurd. Supposedly Walsh has been saying since he joined the race that he wasn’t going negative, and that his supporters shouldn’t either. (Wink, wink, nod, nod, chuckle, chuckle.) Make no mistake about it, where organized labor is concerned, Walsh is taking orders not giving them. And, that won’t change in a Walsh administration. After Mayor Marty gets his orders from organized labor, the hard-working middle class of this city will get the bill. Property taxes will go up and city services including public education will suffer.
David says
your commentary here is degenerating rapidly. It started out as pro-Connolly, skeptical of Walsh. Now it’s heading into unsupported assertions and blanket accusations, which are against our rules, and which hurt your candidate more than they help him. Consider this a warning: stick to our rules, or we’ll suspend your account. Welcome to BMG.
HR's Kevin says
If “unsupported assertions and blanket accusations” are grounds for suspension, then why is danfromwaltham still here?
dasox1 says
David, respectfully (because you have my respect and admiration for this wonderful site and your hard work on progressive dialogue) I don’t see you taking this stance with Walsh’s supporters who are using this site on a daily basis to engage in baseless attacks on John Connolly. If you’re going to referee, I respectfully ask that you do so even handedly. I just re-read the rules and I while respectfully disagree that anything that I have written comes close to violating those rules I will continue to abide by them. The post that I commented on tries to explain why unions can’t pull back mailers, when Walsh has been clear for a long time that he didn’t want entities going negative on his behalf. My commentary on Rep. Walsh’s ties to organized labor, the ethical issues surrounding his introduction of legislation that benefits municipals labor unions while getting paid over $170,000 by them, and the potential issues that creates for good governance are legitimate issues (even if the majority of your users disagree). Thank you for the warning and, hopefully, for not suspending me.
Christopher says
The whole wink, wink thing as if you can read minds. If Walsh has said those things are inappropriate the burden is on you to prove he doesn’t really mean it. Otherwise you are being baselessly cynical.
dasox1 says
Case in point. This is what people on this site are writing about the Connolly campaign: “As we all know, having an outside group criticize your opponent is a much bigger sin than basing your campaign on the demonization of public school teachers and organized labor, right?”
fenway49 says
No link but the quote is from my post this morning. I’d say you’ve lended credence to the idea that Connolly and his supporters are demonizing the unions with your first comment above.
I don’t get your point here. Are you saying that, because I, a private citizen, have characterized the Connolly campaign a certain way that makes Marty Walsh a liar when he says the outside group’s mailers are inappropriate? What am I missing?
Unrelated: Could you add something in the title bar for your comments? Just makes things easier than a bunch of blanks on the “recent comments” list.
dasox1 says
Is that David warned me about “unsupported” accusations, and then I read what you wrote…. We’ll have to disagree on whether on my comments are “demonizing” to organized labor, or raise legitimate issues on Walsh’s ability to lead this city without undue influence from a special interest group.
abinns says
That political mail gets tagged and has special handling at Post Office facilities. Mail houses print them in specific order and deliver them to the post office with red tags “POLITICAL MAIL” (technical USPS red tag #57). They then are handled separately and have priority of standard bulk mail since they’re treated as first class mail.
mike_cote says
that the bulk mailing gets the red tags and is treated like first class mail. It is still unrealistic to expect that if Marty Walsh condemns the action at 7PM on a Tuesday Evening, and a bulk mailing arrives in voter’s mailboxes on Wednesday afternoon, that the originator of the mailing coulc have stopped it.
Even if I, just Joe Schmoe, drop a first class letter into the post office, I cannot change my mind, go up to the counter and demand my first class letter back, even if the box is 5 feet away from the counter. I have been at the post office when people have demanded their mail back and they are turned away. My understaning of this is that once the letter has transferred from the originator to the Post Office, you lose all right of ownership and the Post Office can only legally hand it over to the person to whom it is addressed.
I am simply stating that a bulk mailing piece that arrived on Wednesday Afternnon, was probably at the Post Office by Saturday or Monday, so expecting it to be halted based on Tuesday Evening comments is unrealistic. It would be better had it never been mailed, but the moral outrage being expressed was that Marty Walsh said, “Knock it off” and another mailer arrived the very next day.
abinns says
Marty talked about the first round of negative pieces over the weekend. Tue at 7PM wasn’t the first time. I would bet the Wednesday pieces were dropped on Tue (and delivered next day). Walsh spoke about them on Saturday (per Herald article and our good friend Twitter). Plenty of time NOT to mail them. They were likely already printed and the Greater Boston Labor Council and Working America chose to mail them anyway. They also have been used during canvassing and dropped on peoples doors as recently as Wed.
mike_cote says
Having run for City Council in the Past, I have done the bulk mailing process before, and while I respect the Post Office, there is no way that these were delivered to the Post Office on Tuesday. My bulk mailing took about a week to be delivered, which is why I am guessing the mailing was probably dropped off at the Post Office on Saturday. If it was dropped off Saturday morning, it would still be too late to stop it based on commentary in the Herald on Saturday. Seriously, I am just repeating myself, but I have used Bulk Mailing in the past and in my opinion, there is no way to have stopped it on Tuesday and I see little to no chance of it being stopped on Saturday either.
Unless someone who actually is an actual Post Office Employee says otherwise, I am not going to change my belief in my real work experiences.
So, in closing, I think the mailing is reprehensible and stupid, but I believe the outrage at this based on the Tuesday Night comments or a Saturday newspaper (the Herald being called a “NewsPaper” is a joke in itself) article is not based on the reality of how Bulk Mailing works and I believe is just a way to hammer on the candidate you don’t like (much like the Romney Binders of Women comment).
bob-gardner says
google” DMM recall of mail” and you will find the regulations in the Domestic Mail Manual. I don’t disagree with you larger point that recalling a mailing would be expensive and not very practical.
bob-gardner says
takes a picture of every single piece of mail.
fenway49 says
they don’t have to take pictures of these particular mailers. We’ve got some people here who will take care of that for them.