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Shortly after the November elections, I wrote a blog article addressed to our newly elected governor and Legislature. In it, I described my love of teaching and the German language and my fear that the flawed school funding formula would continue eroding our state’s schools.
I’d always intended for that article, or a form of it, to be read by Scott Walker. So, in early December, after a few weeks’ time and the slow decline of the post-election vitriol, I tweaked it a bit and mailed it to him at the County Executive’s office. Yes, he was governor-elect, but my assumption was that he’d still be reachable at his current position, especially since his page on the Milwaukee County website did not include a forwarding address.
Silly me.
A few days later, my letter was returned to me with a note indicating that correspondence to the Governor-Elect needed to be sent to his transition office instead, and including the address on the bottom. Now, I understand that gubernatorial correspondence doesn’t belong in the County Executive’s office. Nevertheless, that returned letter raised a few questions in my mind.
First off, what county employee had to take the time to type and copy the note that came back with my letter, and isn’t it curious that Governor Walker did not take that person to task for wasting county resources? And couldn’t the postage used to return my letter to me (and apparently the legions of others who made the same mistake) have been used
simply to forward the letter directly to the transition office? Or, even better, since Walker is such a champion of cutting government spending altogether, what would have been wrong with placing a cardboard box in a corner and leaving it there for him or for an aide to pick up at his/her convenience? I say “him” because he was still County Executive through late December. One has to assume that he showed up at his office every now and then.
Mine is not to question the wisdom of such decisions, and perhaps there are other regulations at work here that preclude what seem to be my logical suggestions. But I digress.
Once armed with the correct address, I mailed my letter describing my love of teaching and my concern for the state of our schools to the governor-elect once again. It even included a reference to his potentially tossing my letter aside or handing it off to an aide, but I hoped that he would hear my voice. He couldn’t ignore me. I wouldn’t let him.
Soon thereafter, I received this response:
“Dear Linda,
Thank you for your recent correspondence. I appreciate the opportunity to learn of your views.
As your governor I will lead with the interests of all Wisconsinites in mind. In fact, job creation is my number one priority, and we have a bold plan to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin by 2015. Together, we can put the Badger State back to work and make sure that Wisconsin is open for business. I encourage you to stay in touch in the days ahead as we work to move Wisconsin forward. Together, we will put Wisconsin back to work. Thank you again for contacting me.
Sincerely, Scott Walker”
So many questions popped into my mind: Jobs? Did you even read my letter? Do you understand that it’s about education? And are you aware that the elections were over six weeks ago, and that you won? (You can stop campaigning now, dude.)
Now, full disclosure: Scott Walker was not my chosen candidate, but I’d be every bit as annoyed if a letter to one of my preferred politicians were answered in such a way. I’m not saying Walker would have to agree with me (and indeed, I think there are very rare occasions in which we would). I’m not asking that.
All I wanted was to be heard.
Another tweaked version of that blog went out to all members of the Senate and Assembly education committees this morning. I’ll keep you posted on who – if anyone – responds. Let’s hope so. Education is in big trouble in this state if no one is even willing to listen.
