Letter to the Editor at LCDP Feb 13, 2014 and Follow Up

Letters to the editor: Why won't Rogers comment?

Feb. 13, 2014

Thank you for the Jan. 30 article “Obama’s ‘year of action’ cheered, jeered” by Christopher Behnan about the president’s State of the Union speech and the reaction by our local politicians.

It was informative to learn that the chairman of the county GOP said he opted not to watch, saying he distrusts President Barack Obama and that he prefers to wait until actual legislation is introduced before commenting on the president’s ideas. If he had watched, he would understand that there probably won’t be any legislation coming forth due to the dysfunctional Congress. The GOP in 2013 voted 42 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The chairwoman of the county Democratic Party cheered the president for calling for a year of action “when we are saddled with a do-nothing Congress, the least productive Congress in history.” She is for Obama’s use of an executive order to increase the minimum wage for federal contractors and for what he can do to require equal pay for equal work, which will improve income equality for women.

U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow approved of Obama’s focus on closing the income gap and extending unemployment benefits, in particular. Stabenow talked about the need for Congress to pass the farm bill as the president has touted the “importance of agriculture to our economy.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Howell, declined to comment for the story.

Could the reporter explain why our representative in Congress declined? Had Rogers not watched the speech either? Was he not there in the audience? Was he busy tweeting and not listening? Why is Rogers willing to appear on many Sunday morning talk shows and not want to “talk” (comment) for our local paper on this important speech of our president? I hope the reporter will follow up and discover the reason and substance of what Representative Rogers thought about the speech and why Rogers chose not to comment.

Mares Hirchert

Hartland Township

Editor’s note:
Rogers’ communications office declined more than one request seeking comment for the story after the State of the Union speech.

Clarification: The editor’s note attached to this letter to the editor should have said the request for response from U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers’ office was made in a single email , in regards to the president’s State of the Union address.
Kelsey Knight, communications director to Rogers’ office, gave the following response: “He spoke with Michael Patrick Shiels, WKAR and WLNS this morning. I would suggest working with those outlets for his SOTU response.”

Feb 20, 2014   Comment by Mares Hirchert

After reading the clarification which said that Rogers' office referred our local newspaper to "Michael Patrick Shiels, WKAR and WLNS...." I was taken aback by the distain for our community here in Livingston County that this response represents. I ask myself, why do I need to try and find out who Patrick Shiels is and do research on him in order to find out my U.S. Representative in Congress' response to the SOTU? I thought about this and figured out that in reality maybe Rep. Rogers needs to get his constituent's thinking and response to the SOTU, not the other way around. Those who realize the contempt that Rep. Rogers is showing to our local paper and thus by extension to his constituents as the paper represents the community, I suggest a phone call, e-mail, letter to the editor, etc. to let Rep. Rogers know your thoughts on his handling of communication with our "free press" as well as your own response to the State of the Union ideas presented. After all Rep. Rogers is paid to represent us in Congress and he needs to hear from us and our thoughts.