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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Arts / Visual Art / Theater / Dance What's A Voter to Do If Not Contact Her Elected Representative?

Posted by on Wed, May 25, 2011 at 1:04 PM

Look, I've been writing about this 4Culture saga for months, and I know it can get tiresome to hear about. But the truth is that elected officials have failed to do the simple work of renewing a successful, thrifty, well-liked program—FOR SEVEN YEARS IN A ROW, THEY HAVE FAILED—and now, yes, if you are an elected official, you can expect to be hearing from lots of your constituents at once on this very last day of the very last special session where 4Culture can be saved.

Cable Griffith just shared this note on Facebook:

After sending a nice email in support of 4Culture to State Representatives, Rep. Kathy Haigh (D) replies, "You all need to stop sending these e-mail messages. I support the arts but I feel abused by all of these e-mails. " Should we be sorry for communicating our concerns to our elected officials? How is this "abuse"? Lame! I should note that many other Representatives have responded with gratitude for my email.

Here's Advocate4Culture's latest update on what to do, and why. My behind-the-scenes understanding is it's basically Frank Chopp's game at this point. If he's your representative, let him know what you expect.

 

Comments (13) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
COMTE 1
Rep. Haigh has a very strange notion of what it means to be "abused"...

And yes, please, do email your State Rep.
Posted by COMTE http://www.chriscomte.com on May 25, 2011 at 1:09 PM
2
Yeah, it's rough that Representative Haigh is occasionally called upon to listen to her constituency. It sucks when you're getting paid to do a job and then all of a sudden people expect you to actually do it.
Posted by Proteus on May 25, 2011 at 1:13 PM
Will in Seattle 3
Why does she hate the arts, Medicare, Social Security and America so?

Or did her fellow travelers tell her to keep giving more tax exemptions to Boeing and Microsoft and multi-millionaire farms and she sold her soul in return?
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on May 25, 2011 at 1:27 PM
4
gosh it's almost like our representatives don't really represent us.
Posted by philosophy school dropout on May 25, 2011 at 1:31 PM
5
That is a pretty unprofessional response. Not as unprofessional as the guy who wrote "no," but still.
Posted by Levislade http://ballofwax.org on May 25, 2011 at 1:36 PM
6
Thanks for keeping this in the news, Jen! It's a great organization and it deserves our support. I just posted the link on my facebook page and urged all of my friends to do the same. I hope others reading this will follow suit!
Posted by Tish on May 25, 2011 at 1:49 PM
7
Every time I've worked with Rep Haigh, she's been direct, friendly and as helpful as possible. When a bill I cared about wasn't going anywhere she told me so, and why. While she handled this email poorly, Haigh is not a bad legislator.
Posted by Phelix on May 25, 2011 at 2:46 PM
8
Voting matters! How? It doesn't do a damn thing except it makes me FEEL better about myself. Why do the real work it takes to make change when I can email someone. After all, don't you people know that Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the famous "Email on Washington" in 1963?

Tunisia, Egypt, Spain... when will the revolution hit this fucking country of lazy Democrats and Republicans?
Posted by Zepol on May 25, 2011 at 3:35 PM
9
@8: Way to speak the truth, dude. You're totally blowing my mind.

Posted by Why Don't You Lead the Way? on May 25, 2011 at 3:42 PM
10
maybe she's telling you lazy shit , dope smoking artists to get a fuckin job . (god forbid) !
Posted by whatsbeckgottadowithit on May 25, 2011 at 5:15 PM
11
@11: Ha! 'Get a job!'
That's hysterical. Who writes your material?
Posted by Aces on May 25, 2011 at 6:37 PM
12
as if a lazy ass on the government dole would actually get a job instead of whining about getting a hand out.
Posted by whatsbeckgottadowithit on May 25, 2011 at 11:29 PM
13
@12: Wow, that's so true. Yours is a rare insight.
Posted by Please Continue, I'm Learning So Much on May 26, 2011 at 12:02 PM

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