Letter to the Editor-Politics and the ADA

Article:

Dear DGV Readers:

With the resignation of Congressman Mark Foley, apparently for sexually inappropriate writing, and possibility inappropriate behavior, we have a very special opportunity here in Florida and in the United States.

Regardless of whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or a member of a 3rd party, you hopefully have learned the down side of having the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives controlled by the same party. Regardless of affiliation it would be impossible to conclude other than that the past 6 years have been very bad for people with disabilities.

The lack of a functional two party government has allowed Letter to the Editor-Politics and the related services without even a serious debate. Of much greater concern, judges who have strong backgrounds opposing civil rights in general and disability rights in particular have been confirmed over and over again. While all of that has been going on we have also had to keep our eye on Congressman Folly's "ADA Notification Act Bill."

With Mr. Foley gone just 5 weeks from the election we have an excellent opportunity to see that strongly Republican seat go to a Democrat. The Democratic candidate running for that seat has a good background and can do a good job. He had not been given a chance of beating Foley in a head to head race but now his opponent has yet to be picked. I will be posting information about him over the weekend. Anyone with a few dollars to give away should consider spending some of that money to support this Florida House Seat going to a Democrat. We need just a handful of Republican seats to go Democratic in the House of Representatives to bring checks and balances back into government.

A second race that can bring a seat that has been Republican for years to the other side of the aisle is he seat held by Congressman E. Clay Shaw, another Florida Republican. Congressman Shaw has been closely allied with Congressman Foley and this scandal is not leaving him untouched. Of importance to us is that Congressman Shaw has year after year been

Congressman Foley's cosponsor of the "ADA Notification Act Bill." While he has been second fiddle with this Bill his support has been strong enough for him to have testified personally before the House Judiciary Committee in support of this Bill - bringing to bear his seniority in the House from decades of being there. For the first time we have a chance to get rid of this House of Representatives leader who has for the last 5 years worked to pass a bill that would stop almost all litigation by people with disabilities to enforce the ADA. Today for the first time in this Congressional race Congressman Shaw's opponent has drawn even with him in the polls. I will provide information about this candidate this over the weekend too.

Whether you have $10 that you can spare and you send $5 to each of them or you have a couple hundred dollars to spare and you send them each $100 we all need to play a part in returning two party government to the United States. If you have other candidates to support just try to make sure that you give money to candidates who support the rights of people with
disabilities and that the candidates you support have a good chance of winning. A candidate whose positions you love but who is 15 or 20 points behind in the polls might feel good to support but you are throwing your money away. That is just a reality of politics.

We all have to look beyond local politics and look to support candidates who have a good chance of winning and who will bring Democratic control to one house of Congress so that we can return to two party government. Those of you who are Democrats might want to see the control of both chambers change but we need at least one.

Sincerely yours,

Fred

Frederick A. Shotz
President
All Disabled Americans, Inc.