My Letter to State Senator Tim Cullen

I am going to be honest with you, I thought at first that this article HAD to be a hoax. Why would one of the Heroic 14 all of a sudden switch sides like this? After some light digging, I found article after article stating the same thing. I am not sure what the tactic is here, but I decided to write to Senator Cullen to let him know my feelings on the matter, being that I live in his district and that I feel slightly as if I have been stabbed in the back. No, this might not be some sort of compelling article, but it is definitely filled with emotion, and I do emotion very well. Here is my letter to the Senator;

Dear Senator Cullen and/or aide reading this email,
I have called your office so many times in the last few weeks to show my support for you, and the 14 Senators' decisions to leave the state and deny a quorum. I have spoken most often with ...Barb (she is informative and helpful, and kept her cool when I am sure that things were chaotic for her at the office) and talked with her about how my trust and respect for politicians has grown since this all started. I showed my support for you when you left because you were doing what was right. Now I feel as though you are throwing that support right back in my face because the tactic wasn't successful.

Your venture to Illinois gave your constituents time to reveal all that was in the bill. You gave us time and steam to bring about the recall efforts, and the peaceful protests, and the bringing to light of so many things. It sparked a movement unseen before. It brought tears to my eyes to be around the energy at the capitol and share democracy with my fellow man, but now that feels slightly tainted if I am to believe by the several articles I am reading that perhaps your heart wasn't in it.

I don't feel as though denying quorum should be or will become commonplace for solving problems in the future. You have to admit, though, that the behavior from the right has been shameful and filthy tactics to ram a bill through. You and your fellow Senators didn't run and hide. It was a game of hide and seek for your constituents, sir. You hid so we could seek the truth. There's no shame in that.

I agree, an olive branch now would make some difference, but the people you are trying to "make nice" with have little to no respect for the democratic process, your constituents, or the law. You broke no law, just as Lincoln broke no law.

Please do not do this, if "this" is what I think you are doing. It makes me feel as though you liked my support when you thought you needed it, but now that you don't, you want to go back on what you did for us. I really don't want to believe that this is true, sir. Please, find another way to make peace with your fellows across the aisle. Do not throw back the support we have given you in our faces.

I hope I am merely understanding and that there is more to all of this than meets the eye.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I would call, but it would be a lot for poor Barb to try and shorthand. Please, allow me to continue to show you my support.

Yours respectfully,
Naomi Houser