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 ...
Do you know that it’s very rude to actually tell someone that he is rude? I am, of course, not saying that you’re rude, just pointing out rude behavior. Is all.
People are supposed to be paying into SS for their retirement, not for anyone’s children. The gubmint lied and said that it was a retirement account. Social security for old age. For pensioners. There are so many other programs for children and dole collectors that you probably couldn’t identify all of them.
But our stalwart senators and representatives saw all those billions and billions and couldn’t keep their power-hungry hands off them. So we’re in this mess today.
I don’t understand what your problem is with anyone’s decrying that mess. WTHeck?
Don’t try to spin it. Anyone can go back and read your posts here and see that you were not using the term in the correct sense.
And who’s the one with the delicate ears? Not I. You flew off the handle after I posted one line: “That was rude.”
I have to go now. Go ahead and post all you want. If I return and find something worthy of a response, I’ll respond then.
I'm rude because I object to some woman and her "disabled" kid sucking off the public tit?
Look.
If someone has a "disabled" kid, that's rough.
It isn't my problem, I should not have to pay for it.
My kids are normal, I am blessed with good genes.
Was the woman smoking crack while she was pregnant? Do you know? No.
So how in the world should all of us have to pay for the upkeep of this woman's kid?
I look after me & mine.
I work, I pay into the system.
The woes of the world are not my problem.
If this woman cannot provide for her kid, she should have thought about that before becoming pregnant.
Risible opus. Bub bah.
You are insensitive, rude, not politically correct and quite awesome.
******************
All in all, I think that's quite a compliment.
Compare and contrast with one well know republican govenor.
So she threatens us and our elected officials and that’s ok cause she has a family problem?
I almost feel bad about laughing so hard at that clip...
That is exactly how it was meant!
ping for later
YOMANK.
Well....If people can't afford to educate their children perhaps they should have them.
There are many government programs that should fit into that category and should be eliminated. Government schooling in my state is more than 50% of state and local budgets, and they get another 10% or more from the federal government.
Geeze! If you want to cut taxes, government schooling should be one of the first items to go.
Using your reasoning, if parents can't afford to educate their kids ( an **expected** and reasonable expense) or raise a retarded child ( an unexpected and catastrophic expense) then they shouldn't have children.
Letters To The Editor section
‘Hard work, not magic’
Published online on Friday, Jun. 05, 2009
Florine Furlow is a fellow homecare provider in Fresno with an interesting perspective [Valley Voices May 30] regarding the upcoming election over union representation for In-Home Supportive Service workers.
Yes, the civil rights movement correlates well with disabled and elderly people being supported to live in their own homes.
Tragic and devastating cuts are being proposed that could change home care for all time. Ms. Furlow seems to feel those former leaders of our local have “magic” to stop these cuts.
What stopped them from taking action? Why weren’t they using their magic before Feb. 2, while they were in power and before they voluntarily resigned to form a different union?
I’m choosing to fight to protect the aged and those with disabilities, like my son. He, like so many others, may well end up in a long-term institutional placement if services are cut and is a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit brought by our union, UHW-SEIU, against our governor and county to seek an injunction from July’s planned cuts.
We need to unite to fight back together against these cuts. Let’s join arms and redouble efforts to turn this around. It’s hard work, not magic. Tomorrow may be too late!
Lisa Brown
Fresno
Cuts to In Home Health Care Providers
By Nancy Osborne
04/28/09
Fresno, CA (KFSN) — A different health issue plaguing Fresno County isn’t illness but the pay cut facing its in home health care providers on July 1st. And it had many of those workers packed into the Hall of Records for the Board of Supervisors meeting in late April. The subject was a pay cut and the employees like Lisa Brown came away empty handed.
She’s a single mom and is the in home health care provider for her son Alexander who was born with Downs’s syndrome. Brown is paid 11 dollars and change an hour for just six hours a day. California reimburses Fresno County for the work she does with state funds. Lisa quit her job to stay home with her son 24 hours a day and said, “Lives depend on this service.”
When she appeared before the Board on Tuesday she explained whey she chose, “I care for my son who’s cognitively disabled. He has Down’s syndrome.” She added that. “It keeps Alexander at home and out of institutional care.”
Brown was one of many voices asking the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to make up the state reduction of their hourly wages, arguing federal stimulus money will help pay for it. Reverend Samuel Thompson, himself an in home health care provider joined her, “So we have to take care of ‘em and you all have the power and the ability to not cut the wages.”
Story continues belowAdvertisementReverend Thompson and Lisa Brown are like more than fifty percent of these workers. They are a family member taking care of a family member. The large group of these employees took turns asking the board to support their work helping keep the disabled, elderly and sick at home and out of far more expensive group home or institutional care. Linda told Action News why this work is so valuable, “People’s very lives are in the hands of these workers who maybe only paid for a couple of hours of care.”
But with California facing serious budget problems, the state wanted Fresno County to accept cuts to the program by May 1st that will lower wages to ten dollars an hour. No one on the board liked their options. Supervisor Henry Perea noted, “This is just a really difficult situation to be in. I think we could do better. I think we could do different.” Supervisor Judy Case agreed but didn’t see how at this point, “As much as I and everybody else would like to provide something better, in this economy, everybody’s tightening their belt.”
A three to two vote ended Tuesday’s debate in Fresno County which chose to accept the State’s reduction in the hourly wage for it’s in home health care providers on July 1st.
But these union workers say Federal Stimulus dollars can be used to change that plan and vow to keep the pressure on at the State Capitol.
Smoking crack does not cause Down Syndrome and for the most part, DS is not a hereditary condition. Ever heard of Trisomy 21 as related to Down Syndrome? Probably not based on your ignorant post.
As for this woman, to those who say she’s scamming the system, what she’s doing is taking the state up on their offer to pay her to stay home and take care of her son. The hours the parent gets are based on how severe the disability is, that’s what I gleaned from talking to others who collect IHSS.
Mine have been educated quite well, thanks.
I was referring to the woman and her retarded child, for whom I do not wish to pay.
Hey! I homeschooled for 12 years.
I want my share. WAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!
Excellent ad.
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