I was mortified and also a bit amused by Scott Hovanyetz’s article about state Sen. Joseph Coniglio on his use of direct mail (“New Jersey Lawmaker Uses Mailer to Fight ‘Junk Mail,’ ” May 5). Frankly, I hate to tell my wife that we may need to move back to New York over this. Direct mail has been my chosen field since graduate school and has been a wonderful tool and medium to communicate with.
For example, I have used direct mail to help feed the hungry, clothe and provide shelter for the homeless and poor, find cures for diseases through medical research, provide hope for those in need, provide educational opportunities for those seeking to further themselves and also to make sure that the curtain at the local theaters goes up on time. For the past five years I have focused on helping local area nonprofit organizations meet their missions, and some are even in Mr. Coniglio’s great state of New Jersey.
It would be fun to find out whether Mr. Coniglio or his wife are direct mail buyers. It would be amusing to learn whether Mr. Coniglio starts his morning with a copy of the local newspaper or New York Times that he ordered via direct mail, perks a fresh carafe of Gevalia coffee each morning, enjoys a copy of Roll Call newspaper or a free trial issue to Time magazine or U.S. News and World Report that he ordered through a direct mail offer, selects from an assortment of dress shirts that he bought from a Lands’ End or L.L. Bean or other menswear catalog, puts on a nice shiny pair of Johnston & Murphy shoes purchased from the latest catalog and charged all these purchases with a new Discover card that he signed up for via a direct mail offer.
He certainly recognized the benefits and power of the direct mail medium. He is like a superhero gone bad … using direct mail for evil.
A question that perhaps you can present to Mr. Coniglio, who thank goodness is not from my district or county: Does he also use direct mail to communicate with his constituents about public policy, issues that are important to his staying in office, and did he use direct mail for his election run and will we see him in the mail again for his re-election?
Brian Wagner, The Horah Group, New York
