Response Letter from Councilman Perrotto and My Response to Him

I was absolutely gobsmacked to receive a letter back from Frank Perrotto and in such short order. I will note that any and all grammatical and spelling issues are his own. I copied this straight from the email. Following his letter is my response.

Dear Naomi

Thank you for your E mail.

It is quit obvious that you have strong opinions about my behavior and those of Yuri Rashkin. I respect your right to voice your opinion, If you believe Yuri's actions are appropriate and mine are not then so be it. I am not going to even try to respond to your allegations.

I will say that, like Yuri ,I am entitled to my own poltical opinions and biases. However I will never use my position as a Councilman to  express them.

I do agree on one point that if I am lucky enough to get reelected I will thank those citizens who believed in the work I did in the last two  years and thank them for their support.

I wish you well.

Frank Perrotto

-------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Perrotto,

Thanks for a response. That is more than I get from anyone I have sent a letter to, so for that I give you credit. Though I did get a really nice mass response from Joe Knilans who at the the end asked for MY solutions to the budget. I told him that I had several and would love to have a sit down chat with him and now suddenly he thinks I am a big fan and his office sends me emails about what Joe Knilans is up to. An actual response is better than something you send out to everyone, that is for sure.

To be honest, I really wouldn't have cared what you had decided to do, and how you decided to do it until you sent that email to Yuri. The fact of the matter is that up until only a few weeks ago, I had no idea really who any of my city council members were, my representative, my senator, none of them. For that I am a bit ashamed but I must tell you that I am far more aware of things as of mid-February. I am on a first name basis with many reps and councilpersons and I am active in a political way. I may be a bit late in the game, but I am a fierce voice when I find something I am passionate about.

I think that the feeling of attack in your email is what soured me. As you say, you are entitled to your political opinions and biases. I celebrate that they are different than mine and all, because it is your right. I would fight to the death to protect that right, and I would expect the same from you. That fact is that your night was made very easy. You didn't have a need to exercise your rights to political opinion because the man you support was in that room. Had the tables been turned, can you say that you would not have done the same? I am not trying to be petty. I want you to really consider that question. I don't need an answer about that. I just want the question out there for your consideration.

In my opinion, Yuri was not using his position as Councilman to express his bias. Maybe you could clarify something for me... were you and Yuri there in a political capacity as representatives of the City Council? If so, then maybe there's a different story here but that still does not warrant an attack on him via an email claiming that "not even he could be that stupid", as if it were implied that he already is stupid, but is now sinking to an all time low.

I really want to believe in your words; that you really think that a certain degree is "too far" when cutting the budget. That public service workers are important, that safety is important. I want to believe that you really care for your constituents the way that I feel a councilman or representative of the people should. I understand there are some Walker supporters in Janesville, but what does the MAJORITY say? What will the majority say when it matters in January, and will you stand with your people or will you make it your mission to put a stop to the people's voice such as you did when you said you didn't want a letter from the people of Janesville sent to Governor Walker?

I know being a councilperson is supposed to be non-partisan, but right now, there really is no such stance. People are wondering and your fellow citizens of Janesville want to know. Will you be our voice? Will you take our message to the capitol even if you don't like it?

You got to make the easy choice at Forward Janesville. Yuri did not. He did what he felt he had to do. Perhaps you will want to take greater care in the future to think out what you intend to say so as to avoid attention like this in the future.

Sincerely,
Naomi Houser