Dear Congresswoman:

Congratulations on your easy re-election victory over Ron Greer.
I believe Mr. Greer is the gentleman you had hoped to run against
in 2000, and rightfully so — his views on social issues are not
representative of the district.

I must ask that you please not take advantage of your easy win
and believe it is any sort of mandate on how well you are doing —
it is not.

Madison is historically liberal, and this liberalism is what got
you elected in the first place. I do not ask you to abandon your
views, but I do ask you remember the 2000 election against
Professor John Sharpless.

You won, but barely. Mr. Sharpless almost defeated you because
of his moderate views, and after seeing how well Republicans did
across the country last week, had he run, he would have likely
won.

You are a cordial person; I have met you on a couple of
occasions. You seem to mean well, but you ignore 49 percent of your
constituents when you vote on national-security issues.

If you took a random survey of residents from your district and
asked them if they believed the homicide bombings being committed
against Israeli’s are wrong, I believe the overwhelming majority of
the people in your district would say yes.

Yet, in a resolution this past year to condemn these heinous
attacks — a resolution passed with 352 “yes” votes — you voted
“present.” Present are those in Israel whom the homicide bombers
are killing. I’m glad you took a stand against terrorism.

Saddam Hussein has built or is trying to build weapons of mass
destruction. You are in Congress — you have seen the evidence. He
continues to evade weapons inspections. Yet on a resolution to
authorize the use of force if he still continues to evade
inspectors, you voted against this bipartisan bill — 296 members
of Congress voted “yes.”

What do you suggest we do with this evil man? Allow him to
continue his buildup of artillery? There is a reason Hussein has
ordered nerve-gas antidote. Remember, the United Nations, United
States and British do not use nerve gas in attacks.

Ask the average constituent if they would like to take this
chance. Again, I believe the answer will be no.

The Homeland Security bill is another example where I believe
you have ignored the people of your district; 295 members of
Congress voted in favor of the establishment of a Homeland Security
Department. Not surprising, you voted against this bipartisan bill
that passed the House.

I can only assume your objections were a provision that allows
the president to suspend collective bargaining in times of national
crisis, a provision every president since Kennedy has had. I do not
know for certain, because neither homeland security nor the war on
terrorism are issues you even address on your campaign website,
www.tammybaldwin.com.

Congresswoman, please do not get me wrong; many of your social
views are well aligned with a large majority of your constituents.
I am not suggesting you change these views, regardless if I agree
with all of them. You were re-elected because of your views on
social issues, and you should hold true to these views.

I ask you consider the views of the citizens of your district
and this country when it comes to issues of national security and
the war on terrorism. These issues do not appear to be priorities
for you, but they are to your constituents.

The world has changed since the last time you were up for
re-election in 2000. The dangers we are facing are very real, and
the people of Wisconsin’s 2nd Congressional District understand
this, and we need you, as our Representative, to make it clear that
these issues are of the utmost importance and that we support our
president in this difficult battle.

Compared to the competition, you probably rightfully won a third
term in office, but you won this term mainly because of a lack of
competition. Please do not continue to forget the people you
represent.

Matt Modell

Matt Modell ([email protected]) is a senior majoring
in journalism and political science. He is in Washington, D.C.,
this semester for an internship.