Congressman’s office budget mostly spent

Washington —- Rep. Paul Broun of Athens has spent more than 80 percent of his annual office budget, leaving his office very close to running on empty for the last half of this year.

Official numbers released Monday show that almost half of his spending went for mass mailings to constituents in advance of his July 15 primary.

House administrative officials who oversee congressional office disbursements already have tagged the Republican freshman’s budget as being the closest to going bust of any member in recent history. That assessment was highlighted Monday when the chief administrative officer released the quarterly “brown book,” which lists disbursements for the first half of 2008.

Broun’s spending totaled $1.139 million through June 30. Based on an annual budget of about $1.38 million, that leaves the congressman with just $241,000 to pay essentials —- including office rent, salaries, equipment and his travel through December.

Broun’s Washington spokesman, Bryan Partridge, did not respond immediately to inquiries about the disbursements and how the office would eke through until January.

Some of the top staff members, including the chief of staff, already have departed. His press secretary, Jessica Morris, recently has gone off payroll to work for Broun’s re-election campaign.

Broun almost certainly will have to make more cutbacks in personnel costs and benefits, which totaled $405,000 for the first six months of the year. However, he still must pay fixed costs for supplies, office leases and computers, which totaled about $150,000 in the first half of the year.

The congressman, a fiscal conservative who has made a point of criticizing federal overspending, has defended his decision to drain much of his congressional budget on mass mailings to his district.

At a time when most lawmakers are making more use of less expensive e-mail, Broun spent $562,000 to print communications and mail them through what is customarily called the “franking” privilege of lawmakers.

A newcomer who was relatively unknown when he won his seat in a special election, he beat back a well-financed challenge from former Republican state Rep. Barry Fleming in the primary.

Broun’s office spending far exceeds that of many colleagues. Freshman Rep. John Barrow of Savannah, a Democrat, spent about half as much —- $613,000 —- in the first half of the year, with about $125,000 for mass mailings and printed communications. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Albany) spent just over $585,000 for the first half of the year. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Gainesville) spent $570,000.