Is this the face of unclaimed property?
Alert reader Dick Williams of Platte County noticed the 1/8th-page ad on page A7 of Thursday's Star, which featured the smiling face of state Treasurer Sarah Steelman.
"I'm impressed by Sarah Steelman's ingenuity in adoring everything associated with the state treasurer's office with her own very handsome image," Williams writes. "Look for information on the Missouri 529 college savings plan - voila - it's Sarah. In today's Star a Legal Notice from the Treasurer's Office about unclaimed funds. Normally such notice would be a dull text-only box but voila - there's Sarah. It does make for a more eye-catching announcement and a reminder that Sarah is in our lives... I have the feeling I'm getting to know a future governor or senator or at least a future candidate. Why do I feel that way?"
Steelman spokesman Mark Hughes said the inclusion of his boss's blond tresses and wide smile have nothing to do with political ambition. They are there to attract notice, he said.
"Your reader pointed it out -- he would have missed a boring boxed ad," Hughes said. "But he caught the picture. The object here is to get property back to people. And it's working."
Hughes said unclaimed property returned to citizens in the fiscal year that ended June 30 totaled a record $21.8 million, up from $20.9 million the year before.
The ad that ran in The Star was actually an ad about an ad that ran in the Jackson County Advocate of Grandview, which contained the most recent list of unclaimed property from Jackson County that had been turned over to the treasurer's office. Hughes said the ads are required by law. The ads listing the property and referral ads in other newspapers are placed by the Missouri Press Association. he said.
But why, Hughes was asked, does Sarah's visage seem to appear on everything emanating from the treasurer's office? Why on the Missouri Saving for Tuition brochure?
"An ad is designed to communicate, and when you put a picture in an ad, it is more visually interesting and more likely to be read," Hughes said. "If it's not read, you're not communicating."
Posted by Kit Wagar
KS Treasurer Lynn Jenkins does the same thing. Didn't some people raise a stink about Blunt doing this when he was Secretary of State?
I don't see the problem. Members of the US House and Senate send out "newsletters" to everybody in their district that are paid for out of our taxes (remember Dennis Moore pointing at Saddam's spider hole).
Posted by: KS Tres | July 08, 2006 at 09:42 AM
"I'm impressed by Sarah Steelman's ingenuity in adoring everything associated with the state treasurer's office with her own very handsome image," Williams writes
Don't you mean adorning not adoring?
Posted by: | July 08, 2006 at 05:05 PM
Nice looking babe
Posted by: Howie | July 08, 2006 at 05:13 PM
Steelman's Democratic predecessor, Democrat Nancy Farmer, also pasted her photo on the MO Saving for Tuition (MOST) web site. Her predecessor, Bob Holden, also used the MOST television commercials as opportunity to display an image of his trademark combover. I like Steelman's picture better.
Maybe Steelman's 2004 Democrat opponent, Arnold Mayor Mark Powell, could have gotten more votes by promising NOT to put HIS picture on such communications!
Posted by: St Louis Oracle | July 10, 2006 at 07:10 PM
Speaking of electeds who use public funds for their own promo... has anybody seen those tv ads for local parks? They've got Katherine Shields all over them. You don't think that has anything to do with running for mayor?????
Posted by: jojo | July 11, 2006 at 10:04 AM
As a woman, it irritates me that she is using her gender to get where ever her agenda lies. It has taken women so long to be taken seriously and she is besmirching what has been done. - I could have done the same during my career but have too much respect for myself.
Posted by: SS | July 13, 2006 at 03:21 PM