Getting sick of seeing politicians’ mugs on government-funded billboard ads? So am I.

Kudos to Sen. Jim Waring (pictured left) for introducing SB 1061, a bill which would prohibit elected officials from using taxpayer dollars to promote themselves in government-funded advertisements.

Republic columnist Laurie Roberts has a great blog post on the Waring bill.

The money spent putting politicians' mugs on billboards is not big money, as things go these days in Arizona(remember, the Governor and Legislature have spent the state into a $1.2 billion deficit that grows larger every week they fail to achieve a budget agreement). But it's never a good thing to let incumbent politicians use taxpayer money to promote themselves.

Next reform: We need federal legislation that would prohibit publicly funded projects from being named for sitting Congressmen. Some have called it the No Monument to Me reform.

I think of that every time I see a Phoenix city bus headed to the Ed Pastor Transit Center.

And I just learned that there is an Ed Pastor Elementary School.

Pastor's got nothing on Robert Byrd, but we really should nip this thing in the bud...