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Health & Fitness

An open letter to Pat Somerville

This blog highlights my attempts to communicate with Michigan House of Representatives member Pat Somerville (23rd district) and his staff, and why I feel it is time that he leave Lansing.

Dear Editor,

         As the 2012 election draws closer I have decided to write regarding my experiences with Representative Pat Somerville and his office staff members. On December 28, 2011 I received one of Mr. Somerville's mailings. Within it was a blurb that was crowing about the glowing press that the State of Michigan was receiving nationally regarding our economic turn around, improved business climate and so on. I found this especially puzzling because, in the reality that I had observed, Michigan was indeed receiving a great deal of national news coverage, but none of it was positive. In fact, the public awareness of the Republican Power Grab known as Michigan Public Act 4 was growing on a national level  and the outcry about disenfranchisement of Michigan voters' rights through the summarily executed dismissal of elected officials, especially in predominantly Democratic and predominantly African American cities such as Benton Harbor, Pontiac, Ecorse and Flint and was being broadcast on national television! Certainly, not on Fox "News", but on other news outlets The growing list of cities potentially entering the "emergency" state was burgeoning because of the drastic cuts in revenue sharing, decreases in property tax revenue due to the bursting of the artificially (credit default swapped, sub-prime mortgage bundled) created housing bubble, and the "shared sacrifice" of the 1.8 billion in corporate tax cuts.So I called Rep. Somerville's office to try to help him get a broader view of the type of national news coverage that our state was receiving. In retrospect, it appears that the man who answered the phone during the afternoon of Wednesday, the 28th of December 2011 was unhappy about being there between the 2 major holidays. After arguing with me that elected officials of cities and schools that are not able to manage on the severely reduced levels of revenue sharingdeserve to lose their democratically elected powers, and that the citizens of cities like Benton Harbor, Flint, Detroit, Pontiac and Ecorse who got mortgages for mansions that they knew they wouldn't be able to pay back should become homeless, he further stated that he thought busting teachers unions, privatizing schools and throwing open the public's coffers to fund  so called "cyber schools" at the same level as public schools sounded like a "really neat idea". I strongly disagreed and told him that I went to public school, my parents were both retired teachers and members of teachers' unions and that I would NEVER vote for Mr. Somerville or any other such person! He yelled at me, "You Have a lot of nerve calling here on a holiday!" I stated, "What holiday? It's a WEDNESDAY!" When I stated that I would never vote for a Republican because I didn't want to "Become an {offensive reference deleted}!" He said, "Well, I guess we can attribute that to you being the product of a PUBLIC SCHOOLS!" (Granted, my comment was rude, but I was really furious by that point!)

After I finally let the man off the phone so he could enjoy the rest of his personally declared holiday, I decided to search the web and find out to which private schools Rep. Somerville must have attended. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that he had not only attended the publicly funded University of Michigan, but he graduated from Woodhaven High School! In fact, he was in High School when my older daughter began grade school. I sent Rep. Somerville an email telling him about my conversation with his staff member, relating my dismay about the negative comments his staff member made about our public schools. I thought that he might respond to me in some way.

On Wednesday, December 28th, I tried to discuss a mailing that arrived at my home this day with the gentleman who answered your Lansing office [phone}. When he took exception to something that I said he rather snidely stated, "I suppose I should chalk that up to your being a product of the public schools." Perhaps you should remind this gentleman that YOU are also a product of the public schools that he holds in such low regard, having graduated from Woodhaven High School.

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Sincerely,

Judith Briggs Trenton High School class of 1979

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           Instead, the next day the man who I spoke to the previous afternoon called me back! He insisted that he hand never made the comment about public schools!  I replied that I was able to quote word for word what he said and proceeded to do so. He repeatedly denied it and when I suggested that perhaps he was trying to spin what he had said because he had gotten in trouble with his boss he denied that too.Further contacts with Rep Somerville were equally distressing. When I sent an email about my idea about drug testing elected officials

 Dear Sir, I have become concerned about the erratic thinking that I have observed in the government of my state. I would urge you to introduce a bill that will require random alcohol and drug testing of members of the Michigan legislature as well as the executive branch. People who have influence to impact the lives of so many people should not be allowed to attempt to work with thinking clouded by substances such as alcohol and illicit or abused prescription drugs.


 Sincerely, Judi Briggs, Woodhaven MI

 

That was ignored completely. I guess he assumed it was a joke (which it is not, as other public employees such as bus drivers and teachers are required to prove that they are not impaired by alcohol or drugs. What is more dangerous to our state than LUI (Legislating Under the Influence)!When I wrote to him about the bill allowing so called "Cyber Schools" SB619

 Dear Mr. Somerville,    

Please vote against the Cyber-schooling bill, SB619. This is a rip off of school budgets for for-profit cyber schools which shortchange our children.  Sincerely, Judith Briggs Woodhaven, MI 4818

 


 I received the following:

 Dear Judith,   Thank you for contacting my office, I appreciate hearing from you.  We are eliminating one-size-fits-all, government-mandated solutions and giving parents new choices in how they educate their children.  The parents of the 10,000 Michigan students on cyber public school waiting lists want this opportunity.   Cyber public school graduates earn the same diploma as graduates of traditional public schools after learning the same material, taking the same rigorous tests and meeting the same high standards.  Parents should determine the best path for their child, not the government.  This bill allows them to do the right thing for their family, whatever it may be.


Thank you again and if I can ever be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely,Pat SomervilleState Representative

 

I tried to further explain my viewpoint to Rep. Somerville but I received no reply to the next two attempts, despite his assurance that I was welcome to contact him without hesitation;On May 1, 2012 I replied: 

I think you're wrong. This bill short-changes children while making quick profits for educational software companies. Just because they receive the same diploma does not mean that they are receiving the same EDUCATION!


No response.
On May 2, 2012 I tried again: 


Mr. Somerville,
If the goal is to provide parents the choice of what type of education to provide their children, then the bill should provide for cyber education that only covers the education portion of the parent's choice. If parents choose to educate their children via a computer then the providers of that education should be paid the cost of the education portion only, and [NOT] the costs of providing busing, brick and mortar buildings, administrators etc. As I understand it, this bill pays so called "cyber schools" the same amount of money per pupil that a true public school would receive. If the true agenda is to allow parents to choose, rather than to de-unionize and destroy public schools, then the cyber schools won't need the portion of the school system's per pupil rate that goes to support the infrastructure.


Sincerely,

Judith Briggs, taxpayer


 I realized when I reread my second reply that I had left out an important "NOT" [added above for purposes of greater clarity] but I am not sure it really mattered because he never replied to this either.

I recently attended a brunch sponsored by an organization dedicated to promoting the education of women.  As the part of the program we had the privilege of hearing State Representative Ellen Cogen Lipton speak about her education as a chemist , and then as a patent lawyer and how it related to her job and experiences as a member of the House. After speaking, Rep. Cogen Lipton offered to participate in a question and answer period. I only wish that I had a transcript of the discussion so that Rep. Somerville could see dismay and the concern that was expressed by the members and visitors in attendance when the topic of the so called "Cyber-Schools" bill came up! The concerns offered were not because of the possibility of losing income or the potential of busting of labor unions (valid issues but not the ones really expressed in this venue), but about the quality of education that children in virtual schools would receive as well as the excess profits that would be siphoned off due to no differentiation being made between a virtual school and one that needed to budget for busing, special education, PE, building maintenance etc. Since the members who joined in the branch's earlier days often earned their college degrees in order to become teachers (a traditionally encouraged career choice for women in the first two thirds of the 20th century) I only can imagine that the number of hours of teaching experience represented by the persons in attendance must have been staggering.! Representative Cogen Lipton  mentioned that in some areas of the state, less affluent communities are being inundated with heavy recruiting for the Cyber-School program, with incentives of laptops or tablet devices being offered to parents.  Many of these children escape from undesirable and get a large percentage of their nutrition while at school. Does the Cyber school provide that too? Rep. Somerville suggested that:
 We are eliminating one-size-fits-all, government-mandated solutions and giving parents new choices in how they educate their children.

 It seems to me that Rep. Sommerville is actually offering one-size-fits all education by Cyber-School. My daughter took a make up credits class by computer during her time at WHS. She found it frustrating and had to ask for help from her Grandmother (a retired teacher from what was once Detroit College of Business). Computers don't have the ability to learn the personality or learning type of each child, the way an experienced teacher can. I worked in a public school system in Maryland when I first graduated as an Occupational Therapist in 1984, and again as an Occupational Therapist at a special education center  in this area as a contracted "fill-in" member of the staff, so I have had an up close and personal view of teachers, paraprofessionals and administration staff in a public school system, while not actually being a member of their unions. I believe that I have a certain amount of authority when I state that the vast majority of these personnel work very hard to individualize their teaching methods for each student, with no "one size fits all" approaches. They care very deeply about their students and they do not deserve the libel/slander that they have received from people like you and your office staff. 

Eventually Rep Somerville tired of the process of replying to my emails and started issuing vague, carefully worded responses such as (I paraphrased this as I was not able to locate the original):


 Thank you for contacting my office, I appreciate hearing from you. I will keep your thoughts in mind when I vote on House Bills 5711, 5712, and 5713.
Sincerely,
Pat Somerville

State Representative

With no indication of what exactly he would be thinking as he voted for or against the bills.


So, I admit that I have made a few inappropriate comments during my attempts to communicate with my elected state representative. However, I think that the fact that Rep. Somerville espouses a view of supporting education but votes in ways that contradict his stated view, the fact that his office staff are verbally abusive to his constituents with opposing viewpoints (and he does nothing about it), and his pro-business (except for the business of housing, the business of publicly educating, and, apparently, the business of  providing scholarships to the citizens of this state, as he has stated on his Facebook page) demonstrates that he is trying to provide our district with government of, by and for the corporations rather than of, by, and for the people. No one really believes that corporations are people! That's just more ALEC and Koch inspired rhetoric to try to hijack the government away from the hands of the people by buying what they want through multi-million dollar ad campaigns that distort the truth,  like they are ordering laws from the pages of COMPUTERSHOPPER.COM. I think it's time that Pat and his office staff start packing up their Lansing offices so that more a more qualified representative OF THE PEOPLE can move in!

In conclusion, to Rep. Pat Somerville: I know of at least one Michigan based company that is trying to recruit qualified employees who have engineering and/or computer skills. Would you like me to give you their number? I think you would do a better job working for a corporation than working for the people! With Liberty and Justice for All!

Sincerely,

Judith Briggs MS, OTR/L, Woodhaven

PS. I recently introduced myself to Mr. Somerville at Firehouse # 1 in my home town of Trenton, when Governor Snyder came there to sign a "Anti-Swatting" bill into law, a bill that Mr. Somerville had sponsored. I was cordial and polite, but as soon as I sat down a member of Mr. Somerville's staff approached me and began attempting to grill me on my intentions. "This is a bill signing, not a political event" and "I hope you're not planning on causing a comotion." I started to respond to his questions but before I could finish my sentence he turned his back to me. When I said, "Oh, I guess you're done speaking to me." he turned back around and began to harangue me about my hostile tone! I tried to explain that it was rude for him to turn his back on me in mid-sentence when he had initated the conversation, but he indicated that, since he was in charge of setting up the event, I should expect that normal social behavior toward an individual such as myself (a mere member of the public, and not anyone of importance) should be waived. 

I feel that this is typical of the type of interaction the constituents of the Michigan State 23rd district are likely to encounter when attempting to communicate with their current representative and his staff. 

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