Open Letter: UW-Oshkosh employee contributes to Walker's campaign...with fiscal facts

The following open letter appeared here in the Oshkosh Northwestern online on 19 April, 2012.  It's just too priceless not to share.

An Open Letter to Governor Walker,

I have received your letter requesting funds for your recall election effort. Sadly, I am an employee of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. About a year or so ago my wages were cut due to increases in my health insurance premium. Since becoming an employee of the UW System in 1999, five percent of my pay has been withheld and automatically applied to the WRS fund for my retirement. However, around the same time as my insurance premiums nearly tripled, an additional five percent of my pay was taken from me and applied to the WRS fund. Mind you, my pay was not increased to replace what had previously been negotiated out of state employee paychecks and I now find myself taking home less in 2012 than I did in 2007.

With the prices of gas, milk, cereal and other things continually increasing, but my take-home pay continually decreasing, I simply do not have any money to contribute to your campaign coffers. However, I did notice that according to the 2011-2013 Compensation Plan, the Office of Governor received a pay increase. Please consider the portion of my state income tax that was applied to your pay increase as my contribution to your re-election effort.

Daniel M. Hoyt
Oshkosh

Want to make your thoughts to the Governor open to the public?
Guest posts always welcome. Just email monologuesofdissent@gmail.com.
Open records, open letters, open government.  Let your voice be heard!

Wisconsinites aren't buying Walker's "savings"

Last week, Governor Walker sent out an "E-Update" with some very shady math about how profitable his "reforms" have been in Wisconsin. As one of the many, many taxpayers suffering under his cuts and increases to local taxes, I had a lot to say about that.  Turns out I wasn't alone.

Isthmus published my own letter to Walker as a Citizen editorial on The Daily Page, and one reader shared her own response to Governor Walker's message:

Governor Walker sent me the very same letter! Here's my reply: 

Please post on www.reforms.wi.gov complete and accurate information about the impacts of Governor Walker's reforms on the Hudson School District and on homeowners in the Town of Hudson, both of which are located in St. Croix County.

As reported in the Hudson Star Observer on 7/13/11, 7/21/11, and 9/21/11

• The Hudson School District was unable to recoup the $2.6 million in state funding cuts it suffered-despite making budget adjustments by increasing staff contributions for retirement accounts and health insurance, getting competitive bids for staff health insurance, allowing no increases in staff salaries and benefits for union or nonunion employees, cutting forty (40) staff positions, recognizing savings from staff retirements and attrition, cutting operating costs, cutting transportation costs, and increasing student fees;
• Property owners in the Hudson School District will see at least an additional two-percent (2%) increase in the property tax levy for the Hudson School District under the 2011-13 state budget and budget repair bill; and as a result,
• Under the 2011-13 state budget and budget repair bill, the Hudson School District will be able to provide less to students in the next and future years, but will be able to do so at a higher cost to us local taxpayers.

As shown on our Town of Hudson residential property tax bill for 2011, the results of Governor Walker's reforms are that:

• Although the 2011 assessed value of our home did not increase over the 2010 assessed value, our 2011 property tax bill did increase by 6.9% over our 2010 property tax bill because state aids to St. Croix County, Town of Hudson, Hudson School District, and WITC were cut significantly in 2011 compared to 2010 dollar amounts;
• 2011 state aids declined from 2010 state aids by 7% for St. Croix County, by 7.3% for Town of Hudson, by 6.7% for Hudson School District, and by 30.6% for WITC;
• The state portion of our 2011 home property tax bill increased by 1.8%;
• The St. Croix County portion of our 2011 home property tax bill increased by 8.0%, even though the St. Croix County Board again reduced the annual County budget and the 2012 County budget is 24% lower than the 2008 County budget;
• The Town of Hudson portion of our 2011 home property tax bill increased by 0.1%;
• The Hudson School District portion of our 2011 home property tax bill increased by 7.5%, even though the Hudson School District took all possible steps to cut costs; and
• The WITC portion of our 2011 home property tax bill increased by 5.4%.

Currently, the information posted on www.reforms.wi.gov regarding the impacts of Governor Walker's reforms in St. Croix County appears to be an example of misleading, if not outright lying, through omission. Surely Governor Walker would not want anyone to be mislead about the actual effects of the 2011-13 state budget and budget repair bill.

- Posted by a reader from Hudson, WI on 01/05/12 (reposted here with her permission).

This is what integrity looks like: A letter from Erika Hotchkiss

Below is a copy of a letter that Erika Hotchkiss, the owner of Tuvalu, a cafe in Verona, WI, wrote to her local paper. I understand the paper didn't publish it, as she is running for Dane County Supervisor, 32nd district. I can only assume that anyone in the 32nd would be proud to vote for her after reading it. I know I personally look forward to service on the County Board, and thank her for taking a stance of integrity and character, and putting Wisconsin first.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Since the beginning of the recall effort in I have received many messages and phone calls both in support and in opposition to Tuvalu’s participation in the recall effort. I would like to take a moment to clarify why I have made the decision to involve my local business in this issue.

Tuvalu Coffeehouse & Gallery has, since it's opening, been all about social justice. Everyt...hing I do I do with the thought of how it will affect our community, our children, and quite honestly our world. I have set out to make a place in Verona that educates consumers and offers a family friendly environment and a socially conscious choice within our community.

I feel strongly that what is happening to the people of our state and the divisiveness that we see at the Capitol is, at its core, a social justice issue. I have, therefore, provided the recall Walker organizers in Verona a place to collect signatures where they can sit out of the cold at a table in the corner and be safe, and the people who want to sign the recall petition can sign it knowing that they are signing in a place where they and their signatures are also safe. The recall group has been very respectful of our business and our customers. They sit quietly at a table with their petitions waiting for people to come to them if they so choose.

As a customer recently wrote to me “Some might think that putting politics into your business is risky… Sometimes, separating the two is the least authentic choice. We must all go to bed at night knowing we are measured by the positions we take on a daily basis. I applaud the transparency and I know you sleep well.”
No matter the outcome, I wouldn't change a thing.

As a longtime resident of Verona, a mother to three wonderful kids, and a small business owner I have to make the best choices I am able to every day. I love that we have a safe place in Verona for people to sign. I love that I am able to stand up for what's right with integrity and feel empowered and supported by this wonderful community! I have never been silent when I see injustice and misuse of power no matter the risk. I truly would walk away from anything where I was not able to be authentic to who I am and what I believe.
This is what Tuvalu is at its core... it’s more than just a place to get a cup of coffee.

Thank you all and Happy Holidays!
Erika Hotchkiss

You can support Erika Hotchkiss' campaign for Dane County Supervisor here.

The Gall of the Wisconsin State Journal (Part 2: Letter from Grant Petty)

Followers of Monologues of Dissent may have already read my own letter to the editor on the gall of the Wisconsin State Journal and the ensuing email exchange with opinion editor Scott Milfred. I'm happy to report that the paper has confirmed it will run a revised-down-to-200-words version of my letter (god forbid I include all my reasons for objecting to their editorializing - they only have so much room for dissent, you know). I'll also acknowledge that despite his glaring editorial weaknesses, Scott Milfred is a very polite person, and at least he writes back, unlike some governors I know.

I want to share however, this much more lucid and compelling letter to the the WSJ editors, which puts my own correspondence to shame and is a must-read for anyone who cares about what's going on in Wisconsin, or who is interested more generally in the depressing topic of how local news coverage betrays the local citizenry.  Grant Petty is treasurer of the local activist organization, South Central Wisconsin Move to Amend, and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I thank him for giving permission to share his letter here. Please read, and pass on, his letter, which has been making the virtual rounds all week and has now been picked up on The Daily page of local alternative news weekly, the Isthmus.

Why I am dropping the Wisconsin State Journal

by Grant Petty

Dear Wisconsin State Journal,

As non-union public sector workers (yes, we exist) who are about to be hit with an 8% take-home pay cut as a result of Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, my wife and I have to decide what luxuries we're going to cut out of our lives. She has been arguing for weeks that we should let our subscription to your newspaper expire.

Despite my recurring annoyance with your hit-and-miss political news coverage and editorializing since moving to Madison, I had halfheartedly defended renewing it. My excuse was that there was local news in your paper that I still wanted to be able to get from my breakfast reading rather than having to go online to look for it.

My resistance to dropping your paper finally collapsed Sunday morning when I read your jaw-dropping editorial "Rampant recalls wrong".

It was not simply that I disagreed with your position. I disagree with other publications' positions all the time without necessarily feeling insulted by them. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was that you had once again ignored or grossly oversimplified deep and important issues affecting Wisconsin while basing your position on superficial ones.

There were of course other straws:

You habitually oversimplified the motivations of the countless thousands of citizens -- many of whom previously had no union ties whatsoever -- present at or supporting the protests at the Capitol.

You inexplicably neglected to report on the remarkable, and nationally significant, outcome of the April 5 Dane County and Madison referendums on corporate money and speech, leaving it to out-of-state blogs and a local reader to do your reporting for you.

You confidently touted the "narrow yet conclusive" victory of Prosser over Kloppenburg without ever acknowledging, let alone countering, widely publicized anomalies and procedural violations (see also here and especially this testimony before an Assembly committee) that severely tested voter confidence in the provable validity of that outcome -- at least among those voters who had news sources other than the Wisconsin State Journal. And despite your own earlier pious lip service to "making sure all votes have been properly counted and tallied."

You mentioned the mess of the Prosser/Kloppenburg election in your advocacy for merit-based appointment of judges (which I do strongly agree with) while utterly failing to address the obvious and disturbing implications of the same mess for all elections held in Wisconsin.

You praised the bottom line of the "balanced budget" while failing to offer more than token criticism of just a few of the very controversial provisions of Walker's "budget repair" bill. (Hint: there are certainly less destructive and divisive ways to balance the budget and "not raise taxes" even if that is truly your sole overriding objective. And there are analysts who argue persuasively that Walker hasn't even done that.)

And the list goes on.

You are writing for one of the most informed, educated and civic-minded readerships in the country, encompassing both a top-tier university and the state capital, and yet you often write pabulum. You ignore, rather than confronting and testing, information that is widely available through other sources. You routinely insult the intelligence of a large fraction of the readership you depend on for your livelihood.

Worst of all, you fail to confront the myriad signs that democracy itself is under assault in the state of Wisconsin.

Do you really believe that the recall efforts against the GOP senators would have gained the remarkable momentum they did if they were solely about disliking one specific vote those senators cast, independent of the way in which it was done? Your simplistic and superficial editorial makes it sound like a few whiners and sore losers were behind the recalls, failing to note that they collected record numbers of signature in record time. Just from union members?

Since you're apparently posting your editorials from another planet, or at least another state, let me be clear: the spreading flame of opposition to the Walkers, Fitzgeralds and Prossers of this government, and all of their enablers, may have been ignited by opposition to specific policies, but it has been fanned to white heat by the following:

• Arrogant contempt for transparency in government, for the rule of law and for the constitutional authority of our courts by our elected officials.
• The shameless appointing of unqualified cronies to important state functions.
• Appalling power politics as manifested in successful efforts to create unusual obstacles to voting by traditionally Democratic-leaning constituents, such as students and poor people. (Note: the myth of rampant voter fraud has been thoroughly debunked. We should be much more concerned about election fraud.)
• Blatant pay-to-play favors to major campaign donors.
• A rubber-stamp Supreme Court bought and paid for (PDF) by the WMC.
• Mean-spirited scapegoating of public sector workers for partisan political purposes.
• Politically motivated exemptions from collective bargaining restrictions for public sector workers who helped Walker's campaign.
• Partisan harassment of prominent critics like UW-Madison professor Bill Cronon (which, by the way, numerous major out-of-town papers saw as newsworthy but the Wisconsin State Journal, apparently conflating the roles of "public employee" and "public official," did not.)
• Troubling evidence of incompetence and possible malfeasance in the conduct of the Waukesha vote count by a partisan, legally-tainted clerk with questionable explanations for a two-day-late decisive swing in the vote total.

In other words, all of the ugly things that we used to associate with banana republics, not with Wisconsin, of all places.

Corruption of political processes and abuses of power are not unique to any one party; indeed, they are the rule rather than the exception in human history. In our democracy, we depend on constitutional safeguards enforced by impartial courts, an uncompromised ballot box, and a vigilant press to keep them in check.

Once those barriers are breached, they are not easily restored.

Passion for the recalls was inflamed by events -- starting with the open meetings violations and concluding with the compromised Wisconsin Supreme Court's blessing of those violations -- that give us good reason to fear that the Wisconsin traditions of clean government and rule of law will be as dead as Monty Python's parrot unless all Wisconsinites, not just union members, fight for it with every tool at our disposal.

By failing to do what real journalists are supposed to do, which is to hold the powerful accountable and to challenge your readers to have a more nuanced understanding of the issues and hazards confronting us, the Wisconsin State Journal, our newspaper of record, has become one of the enablers of our spiral into political corruption, and for that reason we will not support it any longer.

It's a luxury we literally can no longer afford.

   Sincerely,

   Grant Petty

   Fitchurg, WI

 PS:  And just this morning, we have this:  http://www.fightingbob.com/article.cfm?articleID=1334 .  When will YOU start defending Wisconsin?

Thank you, Grant, for sharing your powerful letter. Let's hope the Wisconsin State Journal  - and its readers - take it seriously. Because you're right: we can't afford not to. The people fighting these corruptions of democracy and decorum are not just isolated fanatics screaming into the void. Maybe if we put all our "monologues" together, people will start listening, and we'll get to some real dialogue. 

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, 

you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

 

RE: An Open Letter to My Leftist Cats, and Scott Walker

Editor's Note: The following is part of an ongoing exchange between me, Scott Walker and my leftist cats. The most recent letter is at the end of the correspondence below.  It's worth nothing that Scott Walker has yet to respond, but I anticipate that will change now that his sharp-shooting staff finally figured out how to set up auto-reply.

Sitta's motto: TAX THE RICH

An Open Letter to My (Leftist) Cats, and Scott Walker

19 March 2011

cc: Scott Walker

Dear Luna and Sitta,

I'm pretty sure you can't read this, given your tiny cat brains, but considering my latest passtime is writing letters to people who won't read them, I thought I'd take a few minutes to share some concerns I have that directly concern you.

First, what the hell is wrong with you guys? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love having you around, but sometimes you act like such jerks. I don't know what happened to you before you wound up at the Humane Society, but you've lived here almost a year now, and I think it's high time you get used to the two basic facts of your existence: (1) I will always feed you. Twice a day. So you don't have to pretend you haven't eaten in six weeks every morning when I wake up. I will get you your morning food as soon as I make my coffee, just like I did the other 300-some days in a row.  Get used to it. And please stop that incessant whining, because maybe if you weren't making that terrible noise it wouldn't be so important that I had my coffee first, and you might get your breakfast right away. Let's try that and see how it goes for a few weeks. (2) I am the person who cleans your litter box, and I'm never going to take it away from you, or fill it with poison litter, or pee or poop in there myself.  So you can stop running in and taking a crap right in front of my face every night like we all don't know whose "territory" that is. It's disgusting, and it's really not helping me at all in the "be a better cat person" department.  Those are the first two things.

Second, can you believe that Scott Walker? What a dog! I hold him personally responsible for the way I've been neglecting you guys lately, what with having to spend so much extra time online at night reading all the news and writing angry letters. I know you've grown accustomed to a little attention after the kids go to bed, but since Scott Walker refuses to respond to my messages, or talk honestly to anyone who disagrees with him, I'm forced to fret over it all night long. So I guess we can add DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THE HAPPINESS OR WELFARE OF CATS to our list of reasons to hate Scott Walker.  But seriously, can you cats believe that guy? He still plans to sell state-owned power plants to no-bid, won't-name, private buyers (Kochs). I wonder if he'll still try to make provisions so that it's legal for them to discriminate based on sexual orientation (have fun trying that one out). Worse, though, he's already frozen enrollment in BadgerCare, leaving the working, uninsured poor who are willing to pay for insurance totally screwed once again. Meanwhile, Scott Fitzgerald wants me to be taxed without representation, and JB Van Hollen  breaks his month-long silence on all these broken laws by saying he plans to appeal the temporary restraining order issued to halt the bill's publication while its legality is assessed. I'm starting to think all of these guys hate kittens, I really am. I hope you two don't think all humans are like that.

I left you home alone again today to go downtown and do some shouting. Things seemed pretty tame after getting used to the huge crowds for a while, but there were still thousands of people out there.  I was almost glad we were here this week instead of last week at the big rally - they needed us more today.  But as long as Walker gives us a new reason to be furious everyday, I don't think our movement will lose momentum. He sure hasn't disappointed so far.  Thanks for not tearing the place up while we were gone.  It's good to know I can trust you. Wish I could say that about our governor.

Much love,

Heather

PS I will feed you first thing in the morning. Please don't come sharpen your claws on my back in the night, ok?

autoreply (do not respond)

Dear Heather:

Thank you for contacting our office and sharing your concerns about our behavior. We strive to ensure that each member of this household is represented faithfully and appreciate your feedback when we are off-course. We have a plan which will provide the tools for you to improve this situation, and we look forward to working with you as we continue to serve and move this household forward.

Please do not hesitate to be in touch if we can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,
S. and L., Cats

Editor's note:
  Letters to cats: 1
  Replies: 1
  Letters to Walker: lost count
  Replies: 0

Clarification: My cats do not support Scott Walker

20 March 2011

Dear Luna and Sitta,

Thank you for the speedy response! You are the best kittens, you really are. So thoughtful. I hope you don't take it personally that I lumped my concerns about your behavior together with my concerns about Scott Walker. After thinking about it for a while, I realized you might take that the wrong way, and I wanted to clear up that I by no means intended to imply that I associate you with Walker, or that my grievances with you are in any way comparable to my grievances with him, or that the consequences of your actions could ever cause the grand-scale damage that Walker's will cause for Wisconsin.  I did not mean to imply that at all! I love you cats. I really do.  And I think you know that, in your little cat hearts, in the same way that I think Scott Walker knows, in his own tiny heart, that he's doing the wrong thing. Because people who are doing the right thing don't have to lie so much. And they don't have to refuse to communicate with people with whom they disagree. And also they aren't publicly stealing from the poor to give to the rich, or trying as hard as they can to unlevel the playing field for children in public schools, or blaming public servants for all of society's problems, or trying to ruin the lives of cute little kittens and the people who love them.

So please don't take any of that personally, ok?! I know you cats would never, ever support Scott Walker or his plan to privatize every last sparkle in the eyes of Wisconsin's children. I'm a pretty open person, but everybody knows I would never have adopted conservative cats, just like I would never have moved, knowingly, into a red state.  I just want you to know that I love you and respect you and think you are the world's cutest cats.  I really do. And  I am going to make it up to you very soon with extra treats and maybe, just out of guilt, I'll give you your morning food before I make my coffee tomorrow.  You cute little kittens deserve it! (Just please don't make that whining sound, ok? Just once?)

Much love,

Heather

P.S. I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that Scott Walker has still not replied. He's busy not replying to thousands of letters from thousands of people, and fundraising, and having a taxpayer-funded private chef pack his bag lunch, and whatnot. I'm sure we'll hear from him eventually. Should be an interesting (auto)reply, given the unautorepliability of our correspondence.

cc: Scott Walker

autoreply (do not respond) [2]

March 21, 2011

Dear Heather:

Thank you for contacting our office and sharing your approval about our behavior. We strive to ensure that each member of this household is represented faithfully and appreciate your feedback when we are doing the job we were elected to do. We have a plan which will provide the tools for you to help spread the word about this situation, and we look forward to working with you as we continue to serve and move this household forward.

Please do not hesitate to be in touch if we can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,
S. and L., Leftist Cats

Editor's note:
  Letters to cats: 2
  Replies: 2
  Letters to Walker: lost count
  Replies: 0

Subject: THANK YOU! (Cats, not Walker)

RE: An Open Letter to My Leftist Cats, and Scott Walker

2 June 2011

cc: Scott Walker

Dear Luna and Sitta,

I owe you a word of thanks.

It's not often these days that people (or leftist cats) take seriously the concerns and requests of the people who write to them, and I am ashamed to say that in my fury over the refusal of Scott Walker to respond to or address the concerns of his constituents, I have not taken the time to convey my deep appreciation for your willingness to compromise and negotiate.  

I am consistently impressed with the professional, respectful and courteous way in which you've dealt with my (sometimes impolite) demands, and, most notably, I want to thank you for meeting the three most pressing of my requests: not pooping  in the litter box while I am cleaning it, not whining so much in the morning, and not sharpening your claws on me while I'm sleeping. 

You two are models of social responsibility, the value of working together, and the power of a written request. Even more, you're proof that leftist cats are, in virtually every way, superior to incompetent leaders who simply march through their days as if the world is their litter box, taking craps in every face and then kicking up the sand to add insult to injury.

Note to Scott Walker: I know you're a very literal guy, so I should explain that that is what leftist cats and I call a metaphor. It's a metaphor for the kind of things you do to the people of Wisconsin (like take away teachers' rights then show up at their schools and force them to listen to you read Oh! The Places You'll Go!.  Or constantly claiming that illegally taking away our constitutional and human right to collective bargaining will fix the economy, but also constantly saying that there's no "fiscal" component to the union-busting bill. Or how you are secretly trying to privatize everything in the state, resulting in the loss of thousand of jobs, but then you snakily claim that the "new jobs" created (by firing people from the jobs they currently hold) are good for the economy. Or how you turned down much-needed federal funds to support the high-speed rail that would bring this state's economy back to life, and then turned around and granted crony contracts to all the highwaymakers who contributed to your campaign to build roads we wouldn't need if we had the rail. Or saying you support public education and then cutting all the funding, and then going a step further by traveling all over the country drumming up support for plans to steal public money to fund private education.  That's the kind of metaphorical crap you constantly deliver us, and the metaphorical litter you throw in our faces when you're done).

Sorry, cats, I know that was already clear to you, but Mr. Walker needs people to break things down for him. You know how he is.  Anyway, I just want to say again that I'm sorry for not properly thanking you sooner, and I really do appreciate how sweet and leftist you are.  You are the best.

Much love (to you, kitties; not you, Walker - you can resign),

Heather DuBois Bourenane
Wisconsin taxpayer and friend of leftist cats and humans

autoreply (do not respond) [3]

June 2, 2011

Dear Heather:

Thank you for contacting our office and sharing your approval about our behavior. We strive to ensure that each member of this household is represented faithfully and appreciate your feedback when we are doing the job we were elected to do. We have a plan which will provide the tools for you to help spread the word about this situation, and we look forward to working with you as we continue to serve and move this household forward.

Please do not hesitate to be in touch if we can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,
S. and L., Leftist Cats

Message from Governor Scott Walker (June 2, 2011)

Thank you for your e-mail message.  I welcome you expressing your views and concerns to me, and I commend you for participating in your state government.  I take into account the views of all of the citizens of Wisconsin, and I will keep your specific comments in mind during my service as your Governor.

If you would like more information about my positions on issues, or would like to read my public statements on issues, I encourage you to explore my website: www.walker.wi.gov.  I like to respond individually to every letter and telephone call I receive; however, I cannot respond to each e-mail individually due to the volume.  If your request is time sensitive, please call my office at (608) 266-1212. You may also write to me via conventional mail at Governor Scott Walker: PO Box 7863, Madison, WI 53707.

As noted on our website, please know that any communications may be subject to release under Wisconsin's public records law and that our policy is generally to release communications sent to this email address.

Once again, thank you for contacting me. Please feel free to contact me again if I can ever be of assistance to you.

Sincerely,

Scott Walker
Governor

Editor's note:

  Letters to leftist cats: 3

  Replies: 3

  Letters to Walker: lost count

  Replies: [autoreplies started in early May. 0 actual responses from Governor. Click here to see my response to his autoreply, which, true to character, is useless and lame]

Luna says: RECALL WALKER

An Open Letter to My Cats, and Scott Walker

19 March 2011

cc: Scott Walker

Dear Luna and Sitta,

I'm pretty sure you can't read this, given your tiny cat brains, but considering my latest passtime is writing letters to people who won't read them, I thought I'd take a few minutes to share some concerns I have that directly concern you.

First, what the hell is wrong with you guys? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love having you around, but sometimes you act like such jerks. I don't know what happened to you before you wound up at the Humane Society, but you've lived here almost a year now, and I think it's high time you get used to the two basic facts of your existence: (1) I will always feed you. Twice a day. So you don't have to pretend you haven't eaten in six weeks every morning when I wake up. I will get you your morning food as soon as I make my coffee, just like I did the other 300-some days in a row.  Get used to it. And please stop that incessant whining, because maybe if you weren't making that terrible noise it wouldn't be so important that I had my coffee first, and you might get your breakfast right away. Let's try that and see how it goes for a few weeks. (2) I am the person who cleans your litter box, and I'm never going to take it away from you, or fill it with poison litter, or pee or poop in there myself.  So you can stop running in and taking a crap right in front of my face every night like we all don't know whose "territory" that is. It's disgusting, and it's really not helping me at all in the "be a better cat person" department.  Those are the first two things.

Second, can you believe that Scott Walker? What a dog! I hold him personally responsible for the way I've been neglecting you guys lately, what with having to spend so much extra time online at night reading all the news and writing angry letters. I know you've grown accustomed to a little attention after the kids go to bed, but since Scott Walker refuses to respond to my messages, or talk honestly to anyone who disagrees with him, I'm forced to fret over it all night long. So I guess we can add DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THE HAPPINESS OR WELFARE OF CATS to our list of reasons to hate Scott Walker.  But seriously, can you cats believe that guy? He still plans to sell state-owned power plants to no-bid, won't-name, private buyers (Kochs). I wonder if he'll still try to make provisions so that it's legal for them to discriminate based on sexual orientation (have fun trying that one out). Worse, though, he's already frozen enrollment in BadgerCare, leaving the working, uninsured poor who are willing to pay for insurance totally screwed once again. Meanwhile, Scott Fitzgerald wants me to be taxed without representation, and JB Van Hollen  breaks his month-long silence on all these broken laws by saying he plans to appeal the temporary restraining order issued to halt the bill's publication while its legality is assessed. I'm starting to think all of these guys hate kittens, I really am. I hope you two don't think all humans are like that.

I left you home alone again today to go downtown and do some shouting. Things seemed pretty tame after getting used to the huge crowds for a while, but there were still thousands of people out there.  I was almost glad we were here this week instead of last week at the big rally - they needed us more today.  But as long as Walker gives us a new reason to be furious everyday, I don't think our movement will lose momentum. He sure hasn't disapponted so far.  Thanks for not tearing the place up while we were gone.  It's good to know I can trust you. Wish I could say that about our governor.

Much love,

Heather

PS I will feed you first thing in the morning. Please don't come sharpen your claws on my back in the night, ok?

An Open Letter: Why writing letters matters to me, and to all of us

18 March 2011

Dear everyone, and especially friends and others who've been following my rantings on what's happening,

I couldn't write to Scott Walker yesterday. Couldn't find the right tone, for one thing. Because sometimes it's hard to be funny when you're too mad, and I'm trying to keep my letters at least partly funny, so that people will read them and maybe feel a tiny bit better to know that someone out there is being honest, and frank, and a little mean, to someone who deserves it. But also because I was having a hard time getting started without swearing, and I'm trying to keep a veneer of civility on my correspondence so that I'm not outright rejected or dismissed, considering the validity and moral rectitude of my arguments against the governor and his proposed legislation. But sometimes it's hard to be honest and civil at the same time.

I was disappointed not to get a letter out. I really wanted to write to him about how frustrated I am with how he continues to lie in the face of evidence from experts about how disastrous his bill will be to education and the economy. I'm sick of his buzzwords - "jobs" and "tools" (even as I love their tea-baggy lack of ironic awareness. Job. Tool. Sigh). And I wanted to write to him about how frustrated I am with how stubborn he is, and how one of his main lies (that "negotiations have been going on for weeks") is just so painfully offensive to all of us he is actively ignoring, and contradicts the promise he made to us at the start that he's yet to break: "I will not negotiate...because there's nothing to negotiate."  I'm tired of hearing him publicly disrespect public schools and educators, and education in general. I'm tired of hearing him lie about how Wisconsin is "broke" and the only solution is to make life easier for the rich and harder for the poor.  But mostly I'm tired of him not listening.  I'm tired of writing letters that I know he'll never read, or that maybe one of his staff will snicker over before deleting it or doing whatever other trick they do to pretend the great majority of their feedback is positive. And I worry that the people who ARE reading these letters are people with whom I already agree, which makes them seem pretty useless, even if they satisfy my own need to shout into the void.

So I was forced to do a little meta-epistolary thinking, about why I'm writing these letters at all, and to whom, and why they matter. Obviously, I want Scott Walker to read them. He's what we call my Primary Audience. He is the literal recipient of every single letter - I am really sending these to his office, and  most of them to the Fitzes, too. What you see is what they get.  But the secondary, and actual, audience is much more abstract for me. Am I just preaching to the choir, trying to get a laugh out of a few of my friends, or am I really trying to persuade the people who need persuading most?  Or both? Or am I just writing out of a need to hear the sound of my own voice, and convince myself that this isn't a total waste of time?  What kind of "action" is this? How, if at all, is it effective?

The rallies are effective: the world cannot ignore a screaming mob.  The recall efforts are effective: we have a legal right to depose unfit officials.  The boycotts are effective. The local efforts are effective: when we talk to parents, talk to teachers, talk to neighbors, talk to local administrators, we spread the word and our solidarity grows, and the movement grows stronger as people realize that we ARE the majority, and they cannot dupe us into silence by claiming we "don't represent the majority of taxpayers of Wisconsin" (another of Walker's favorite lies...insinuating that anyone opposed to him doesn't pay taxes and claiming we're a minority in one swoop. Clever). But how much difference can writing an letter - even an open letter - make?

I don't know. But I know there's a Snail Mail the Governor movement that's encouraging people to let their voices be heard by flooding the Capitol with letters.  And I know that the Attorney General's office has stated that it only takes seriously complaints in writing, indicating that they care little to nothing about public protests. And I know that writing a letter forces you to make choices about what issues are most important to you, and to educate yourself, and present a defensible argument. And it allows you to tell your story in a way no one else can. One of the most poignant examples of this is in a blog by Dorinne Green, in which she presents an open letter to anyone who will listen about the direct - and potentially fatal - effects of Scott Walker's budget bill on her own life. I have links to other powerful open letters on the right column of my blog, and am happy to post any that are sent my way.

Writing open letters is both an expression of solidarity and an attempt to make sure that every voice is heard. Letters to public officials are open records, and they tell not only your officials but the larger community that you have taken a stance. Governor Walker settled a lawsuit this week before he could be found guilty of withholding these records from the public, after making a highly suspect public claim that the "majority" of some 8000 emails they received at the start of the Cheddar Revolution were "in favor" of the budget bill.  The media now has access to those emails, as it should, and can begin the process of sifting through to see what voices do emerge, what stories are being shared, whose lives and families and jobs and futures are being directly effected by these decisions.

My "toolbox" isn't full of money. It's not full of much else, either. So letter writing is one way I can take action. Because I believe our voices matter, every voice matters. But our voices are most powerful when they come together. 

Together, we can force a recall, or - who knows - maybe even a resignation (one stays hopeful). I think we can create a forum here for open letters of dissent that might make a difference.  Because my voice does matter, and so does yours, even if Scott Walker never reads a word of this. But not everyone might think being a little mean, and phrases like "moral rectitude" are funny,  so my voice is not enough. I invite you to send me your letters, other open letters you've read, or links to your own blog or page, and I'll share them with my own. By putting our letters together, we can make a statement: we are not the minority, and we will  not be silenced. We can rally together, we can write together, we can work together and make a difference. Either way, let's not stop raising our voices - together. Please don't be shy about sharing your voice, and pass on this invitation to others who might like to join us.

Resignedly yours,
Heather


cc: Scott Walker

Update (18 May 2011): Check out this new website - more open letters to Scott Walker!

There's another new venue for posting open letters to Scott Walker and I can't recommend highly enough that you check it out: Dear Governor Walker,. This page contains letters from people of all walks of life and covers a range of perspectives, tones and issues. A very worthwhile way to spend some time getting informed of the issues about which Wisconsin citizens are most passionate.

This is a blog set up by our friends at Wisconsin Public Employees Against Walker's Attack on Workers' Rights. You can RSVP to write a letter to Walker to post on this page  on facebook here.