The Atlanta Airport is the world’s busiest, serving over 100 million passengers a year. The airport is larger than most towns, covering over 4,700 acres, with over 63,000 people working there across all airlines, concessions and airport operations. The budget for airport operations was estimated at $738 million in 2025, almost as much as the budget for the entire city of Atlanta, which is $790 million. I remember going to the grand opening in 1980. The size at the time was staggering: high ceilings, state-of-the-art baggage handling, computer-controlled trains between terminals, giant red ants crawling on the ceiling, and artwork that rivals many large museums. One thing I loved was that the announcements throughout the facility were all voiced by our local NPR announcers. Some you can still hear today: “Welcome to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Please note that Atlanta is in the Eastern Time Zone. The local time is currently 2:15 p.m. For passengers terminating their travel in Atlanta, please follow the signs to Baggage Claim and Ground Transportation.” Then in 2010, something changed. A new voice came over the speakers. “Hi. I’m Mayor Kasim Reed. Allow me to welcome you to the City of Atlanta.” At first, I thought that was nice, our mayor welcoming the world. But after thinking about it, I was a little ticked. Why are the good people of Atlanta paying for Kasim Reed and subsequent mayors to engage with 100 million passengers a year? We all know that most people vote without thinking for a familiar name. Just look at our current president. The crazy thing is now you hear it everywhere, even at our own Salt Lake City International Airport, which features a welcome message from our mayor. And the signs, signs, everywhere signs! Cross a state border, and the sitting governor’s name is on the welcome sign. Pull into almost any town, and the mayor’s name is under the population count. Even tollways and bridges aren’t safe. In New York, the mayor put his name on signs for the Brooklyn Bridge, and in Illinois, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich added his name all over the state’s toll system once the automated toll booths were in place.  The only time I thought it made sense to put a politician in a taxpayer-funded ad was California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for those TV commercials promoting California tourism. He is an actual actor, after all, and it probably costs about $3 million to get a global A-lister like him to shoot an ad. Taxpayers not only got his talent for free, but Schwarzenegger famously refused his $187,000 governor’s salary and paid for his own flights. The state got a big celebrity pitching California to the world, and it didn’t cost a dime in talent fees. But Kristi Noem is no action star, and she certainly isn’t Arnold. Yet there was a TV ad with her dolled up like Annie Oakley for a Department of Homeland Security immigration ad campaign. Instead of a straightforward public message about border security, it was a high-production vanity project starring the secretary herself. Those ads were a $220 million taxpayer-funded contract given to a firm run by her own political allies. Ouch! You would think that after she lost her job, that would be as bad as it gets. But nooooo. Imagine my surprise as I’m watching Monday Night Football, and there is our president in a stark black-and-white commercial. He’s walking down a hallway giving a doomsday speech about a “final battle” against Marxists and globalists. It looked very familiar to me because it is literally the same campaign video he ran in 2024. I thought this was strange because no matter what Trump says, he is not on the ballot, so why run a campaign ad? Then comes the kicker: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” Wait! What? This is so typical of politicians. What starts off as a simple welcome message at an airport, or a governor taking credit for automatic toll booths, has morphed into taxpayers dumping $20 million of our hard-earned money to promote a person! I don’t care what party you are from, it is just wrong! I think it is time to put an end to all of it. Let’s pressure Congress and our state legislatures to pass strict laws that prohibit the use of any politician’s likeness in any sort of public communication. Well, unless it is Arnold. He is actually a real actor. Ari Ioannides, chair of the Summit County Republicans, is a recovering tech entrepreneur, founder of BootUP PD, and serves on local government and nonprofit boards. He offers a conservative perspective on local politics. He can be reached at [email protected] The post The Porcupine Quill: Politicians need to stop getting taxpayers to fund their name dropping appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less