In many ways, it's the perfect campaign video — with one key difference.
Thanks to perks given to all members of Congress, it's not Grayson's campaign but taxpayers who footed the nearly $73,000 bill to produce and mail the DVD to 100,000 homes in Grayson's district of Lake, Marion, Orange and Osceola counties.
It's a stunt that drew howls from Republicans, who complained that Grayson was abusing the congressional privilege of franking that allows lawmakers to send taxpayer-paid newsletters and other mail to residents.
"This is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars, and it goes to show that Alan Grayson is completely out of touch with Central Florida," said state Rep. Kurt Kelly of Ocala, one of seven Republicans looking to unseat Grayson this fall.
"This is just ridiculous behavior. What congressman would do this in the face of a huge budget deficit?" he asked.
Grayson said he doesn't see the video as self-promotional and that its intent was to show residents how the sausage is made in Washington.
"Unless you glom onto C-SPAN, you don't have sense of what congressmen do on a day-to-day basis," Grayson said. "I told people in my district that I would try to be a watchdog, and I think they have a right to know whether I have kept that promise."
When pressed, however, Grayson did acknowledge that his office selected clips that make him look good.
"I'm an elected official. Do you think it's my job to put out misinformation or negative information about myself?" he asked.
The silver disc features clips of Grayson questioning witnesses testifying before the House Financial Services committee, including his well-publicized interrogation of Bernanke. A YouTube version posted on Grayson's website has drawn more than 216,000 hits.
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