Posted on 06/19/2009 10:40:49 AM PDT by radar101
The California Republican Party seemed to hit political paydirt in a YouTube ad that pilloried the Service Employees International Union for "bullying state leaders in the budget process."
The ad featured footage of an angry woman telling lawmakers that union members would work to defeat lawmakers who didn't vote their way.
It turns out that the woman portrayed as an SEIU union leader in the commercial is a home health care worker from Fresno named Lisa Brown, who works for the state by caring for her son who has Down syndrome.
Now Brown is calling on Republicans to pull the ad and "apologize for its content."
"I am the mother and care provider for a sweet young man with developmental disabilities who doesn't comprehend the implications of budget cuts on the table in Sacramento," Brown said a letter to the state Republican Party.
Brown, who is an SEIU member but not a union official, said: "Your attempt to label me a 'union bully' would be hilarious if it weren't so dangerous to people that I love.'"
The GOP ran the video to counter a $1 million SEIU advertising blitz featuring a television commercial that urges lawmakers to consider taxes on oil extraction, cigarettes and alcohol to avoid social services cuts.
In the selected clip in the GOP ad, Brown hardly treads easily on lawmakers:
"We helped to get you into office, and we got a good memory," she says angrily at a legislative budget hearing. "And come November, if you don't back our program, we'll help to get you out of office."
Brown said in her letter that she appeared at the hearing "to speak from my heart and in my own words" on behalf of services for the disabled.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Yep, the parent of a special needs child can collect money from the state for taking care of her kid. It’s the California In home Support Service (IHSS) program. Also, special needs community can collect social security at the age of 18, or probably earlier, depending on the income level of the parent. I imagine this woman probably gets all sorts of services provided by the state. As the parent of a child with DS, I have slowly had my eyes opened as to how much help is out there, some of it which I feel should not be funded by the taxpayers.
Yeah, sweet deal, huh?
Hiding behind her disabled child. What a coward.
She gets paid to take care of her own son?
Probably could if you joined the NEA!
Her state job is caring for her son? Wow, no wonder California is in trouble. Last time I checked, mothers cared for their children because they loved them, not because they were paid union workers.
Apropos. ;-)
Hmmm.....interesting idea. I have always taught in right to work states, so I don’t know.
The state pays her to care for her own son?
Shove it, lady.
Un-be-freakin-leavable!
This woman is getting paid by the state to take care of her own offspring? And to top it off, since that makes her a state worker she gets to join the union?
I must be missing something, because I just can’t believe this is true.
Folks, back off of this one. There are plenty of military family members being compensated by the gubmint for taking care of their wounded combat veteran. I'm not arguing that the elements of scam aren't there -- they are, and the scam parts need to be in check -- but assuming that her son really is disabled, this might be the best way for the state to handle what is essentially a SSI or Medicaid case.
When a person is so profoundly disabled as to need permanent care, and they only have a single mother (yes, I realize that's another whole can of worms, but this is this case and it's here now), the alternative is institutional care borne by the taxpayers at a higher cost and lower quality than the mother would give, or a Dickens scenario in which the family goes to the poorhouse.
That was rude.
-PJ
You’re wrong. This is a scam. It’s the mother’s duty to care for her child, not the state’s. If you feel compelled to help there are numerous charities you can fund as well as supplying the scam artist with your own funds directly.
Good points. But, I’m wondering if this mother is receiving both SSI and a salary as a “state healthcare worker” to care for her son. Do we know that she’s receiving one but not the other?
I would bet you dollars to donuts that she has her kid signed up for SSI too.
Maybe, but it’s not only rude, but also immoral and should be illegal to collect money from people who produce wealth and use it to hire a mother to care for her own child.
The entire situation is retarded. It retards freedom, and it retards this woman’s life. Look at the attitude that she has. It is beyond my understanding how anyone can be so shameless, so damaged, and so greedy as to feel that entitled to OPM. How long do you expect that this country will survive when the marxists succeed in converting most of us to this same sense of entitlement? Rude indeed.
Are you really tired of taxes, or do you just call yourself that?
So, if she gets fired from the state is she gonna stop caring for her son?
EXACTLY.
She is nothing more than a LEECH.
Wait a minute! Not only is it outrageous that California apparently considers parents who care for their own children as state workers, they also require them to join the union? Sounds like a scheme to increase union membership and collect more dues. As a state union worker I'm guessing she also gets paid union scale and can claim state bennies. If she calls in sick does she get sick pay?
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