My Dem Congressional Candidate is a Psychologist - but what about the mental health issue?

[Kire]

Greetings DUers-

I worked on a congressional campaign as a staffer in 2004 in New Jersey's 5th District. I got into lots of arguments with anybody and everybody about it, so let's just say I learned a lot and leave it at that.

I've been following the current race, and all Dennis Shulman has been doing is getting coverage about being a "blind, rabbi, psychologist" who has overcome a lot of challenges, but the only challenge he ever actually described anything about how he overcome was when he figured out how to use one of those computers that read newspapers out loud for blind people.

Most of the other coverage he gets is from surrogates. Talking about how he's a rock star, a breath of fresh air. And on the BlueJersey radio Podcast last spring, he giggled a lot and made a comment about the fake applause, saying that he wished all of his callers would be clapping for him or something.

I'm generally supporive of Dems, and Obama and Biden are my candidates, especially Biden on this issue, but my need to address the mental health issue in a proper way that actually has some kind of light at the end of the tunnel supersedes my loyalty to almost anything in this world, including, I'm sorry to say, the approval of every single person who ever registered as a Democrat, in my district or anywhere else.

Anyway, I wrote a letter to the editor that got published on Saturday. I thought it was pretty good, and the editor sounded in a good mood when he called me to tell me he was going to publish it, but I hadn't heard anything about it, not even from BlueJersey, until I posted it on my town message board.

It's a local board, one can probably find it if they really want to google it, but I prefer to discourage traffic from outside the town and the surrounding area, so I will just post a few things.

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Originally, I posted an excerpt from the recent NYTIMES profile of Shulman, and I said I was still undecided. Here it is:

"Rabbi With the Compelling Back Story Is Not to Be Ruled Out".
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/nyregion/14towns.html

There was some discussion, but the thread dropped down.

I picked up again earlier today by posting a copy of the letter to the editor I wrote.

I'll copy what I posted exactly fromt the message board. I clarified a number of things below the letter.

This letter by me was published in the Express Times yesterday.

Attacks on Garrett hurt
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Congressman Scott Garrett is not a monster like most Democrats have been saying for at least four years.

His family cares about him and gets upset when they read personal attacks against him. He told me that in September 2005 when he called me at my house to explain his vote against the bill that funded relief for Hurricane Katrina victims. I could hear the pain in his voice when he described the victims and the suffering he witnessed when he visited there.

If Democrat Dennis Shulman continues to attack him on this, he'll be repeating the same mistake that gave the seat to Garrett in 2006 and 2004. I am no supporter of Garrett, but I am calling it like I see it. He will keep his seat if his opponents remain terrified of him.

Instead of being outraged by the "ideologue" Garrett on one hand and adamantly supporting the opposite position of Garrett, Shulman would do better to explain why he'd perform better. What kind of experience does he have solving significant problems in his professional life?

We have heard from his handlers and his "fans" who say he is compelling and a breath of fresh air, but what does the man even sound like speaking in public? Will he be able to be heard in the back of the House floor chambers?

The only significant thing Garrett has said against Shulman is that his "Oilmen for Garrett" video is "not serious." Time will tell if this is a knockout punch or not.

Erik Anderson

Hackettstown


http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/opinion/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1221883539131170.xml&coll=3

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They changed a number of things grammatically. Only after it was published did I realized I used the word better twice in the same sentence. But I guess they took out "than the Congressman" after the word better.

I didn't like that they took out the words "on the other" after "supporting the opposite position of Garrett", nor that they chose to use the word hurt in the title. In no way do I wish to endorse the idea that we should feel sorry for either candidate. Anyone running for public office knows that they are opening themself up to a debate about what they're accountable for, whether it's pleasant or not. I wrote this letter because I wanted to encourage people to look for new ways to campaign and have a public debate about issues. We know that attacks and stalking the Congressman at his events dressed up in toy cowboy suits doesn't work. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and getting different results.

What Shulman is doing has been done in the past, and it didn't get anyone elected before, so why start now?

Other than all that, I stand by what I wrote in this letter. I am open to criticism, though. Maybe someone will say something critical and I can learn from it.

There was some more discussion. Someone I know said "good letter" and the question of church and state was brought up again, which is a non-issue in my opinion. At least it's an extremely minimal issue compared to the mental health one.

Finally, I looked at it late tonight and I wrote:

I am not a fan of Garrett, and he leaves a lot to be desired, but I worked for Anne Wolfe in 2004, and it was worthwhile to do, but it was also a learning experience, for sure. I was so eager to "get him" and all that I see so many people still doing, that when I wrote one of the first letters blasting him for his vote against the Katrina Relief package.

He found my phone number in the phone book and shocked the heck out of me when he said his name was "Congressman Scott Garrett". I was woefully unprepared, and I continued to try to "get him" after that phone call, by writing a few angry blog posts that appeared to pretty persuasive, or maybe it was one long spectacular rant. After all, it was in every major paper in the district, the only significant national coverage it got, besides being on the official blog of the DNC, was in a gossip column in Roll Call, a Washington, DC.

Garrett was not my primary problem at the time. Now, I just want to see a fair fight. When I look at the race, all I see is Shulman criticizing Garrett for beign too this or not enough that. He says he's a blind, rabbi, psychologist. He's the darling of the Left. Some call him a rock star. He announced his candidacy on a roof top somewhere in Virginia. What about us?

I can't find anywhere that he has told us what kind of challenges he has overcome. Yes, he's blind, so he must have overcome some challenges. But, I bet there are some blind people out there who are struggling with something that he overcame and no one has told them how to do it yet.

He's a psychologist, but what has he said about mental health that has gotten him in the news. PTSD in the military is a big issue, and Garrett is already rightfully criticized for just shuffling money at some kind of military rehab for a new rec room or something, by taking away funding from the employees, making it even slower than it already is for the veterans to get services.

What will Shulman do for the veterans affected by this gaffe by Garrett? What has he done in the past? I'm not asking him to provide confidential information about patients, but surely he must know something about how the institution of medicine in this country works. If I were his adviser, and I offered my services about a month ago, I would advise him to team up with Dick Codey's team.

Even if Shulman ultimately loses, which he is sure to do if he continues doing nothing but getting more awards from the liberal blogs, he could do so much good just by bringing attention to Dick Codey's mental health ideas. I would be willing to bet that there is a person suffering from some kind of mental illness just a stone's throw from every single person in New Jersey, whether it be a neighbor, a family member, the homeless, the veterans. And Shulman is a psychologist. What is he doing? Calling Garrett names.

In a way, I'm sorry that it had to come to this, and if I sound upset, I'm not. Once upon a time, I would be; but I've had waht I thought were many more worse dissapointments in my life, and I have survived.

I just feel that it's important to a lot of people, including more than one family member of mine, to get some attention to this issue of life and death, and I would be doing them a disservice if I did not speak my mind on this. I look forward to any ideas anyone might have, either pro or con about what the future of what we are talking about here should, or could turn out to look like.

I'm sure Shulman is a fine man. It's nothing personal against him. Garrett's not one for sticking his neck out too far, either. If only posting on a blog, and even in a letter to the editor would do something to make these guys get out there and actually improve something other than their statistics on a liberal or conservative score card. But, I'm afraid it might not be.

There is one other issue I heard today about Garrett that interests me, but I'll save it for another post because the mental health issue is just too important.

Warm Regards,
Erik

I'm not actually looking for help defending poor me on this, at least not on that board. I just wanted to make this board aware of what's going on. Maybe someone on here will be able to help in some small (or huge) way and something will be helped somehow. I have much hope for the future now, but, I have learned, throgh much trial and error, that if I have any expectations of the outcome of anything, I will be fully dissapointed.

This board, and DU in general, has been good to me in the past. I wanted to give you the opportunity to be a part of whatever this is, or could be.

I might not check DU all the time. Please PM me if it's somewhat urgent. But if it's an emergency, call 911. Or write a letter to the editor. Or clean your kitchen cabinets. These are just ideas. Some people may be looking for ideas. I too am looking for any ideas. Like Obama, I would like some help covering my blind spots. I bet somebody has a different perspective than mine. I want to learn.

Thank you very much.

Warm Regards,
Kire

[Kire]

1. cross posted on DailyKos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/22/02758/0769/19/606107

[Droopy]

2. The people of this country are ignorant for the most part about mental health issues

Nobody takes the issue seriously until some disturbed person commits some heinous crime. Then we all just wonder how anybody could do such a thing and if he's insane I really don't want to know what was going through his head. It would be different if their ignorance would lead them down the path to understanding, but it doesn't.

Nobody wants to take the time to sit down and learn about mental illness and try to understand. I post about mental illness in the lounge occasionally. People seem to be more receptive here than they used to be. There was a time when I couldn't post there or in GD about mental illness without some dumbass claiming that I was a tool of "big pharma." Maybe people are just more polite these days and refrain from giving me a hard time, but I would like to think that people are more understanding. But I still only get a couple of hundred views and maybe 15 responses to the threads. And that's on a good day. And that is also probably at a place that is more open to the kind of ideas that I express in those threads.

I agree with you Erik in that Schulman should address the mental health issue more directly and more seriously. And since it is his area of expertise he should be making an effort through the publicity that he's getting to educate people at least a little bit on the matter.

[Kire]

3. sorry I didn't reply earlier

I have had a busy day, so I'm not sure what I have to add to what I wrote for now, especially since no one has any questions or complaints about it yet. At least not on this board.

I just want to say I support you, Droopy, and one observation is that even when disturbed people committ heinous crimes, it is common, from my own experience, to get irrational reactions from the person trying to help. so, then it's either, who's crazier, the doctor or the patient, or some other kind of competition, instead of one person caring about the other and honestly helping them to the best of their ability. Neither abandoning nor imprisoning. But helping.

Are you in the 5th district, Droopy?

Thank you very much for your interest in this post.

Sincerely,
Kire (aka Erik)

[Droopy]

4. I'm from Ohio, Erik

But I'm interested when doctors and patients make headlines in a positive way. If Schulman wins he will be in a position to possibly help out a lot of us mentally ill folks. Especially if Obama gets in as well and Congress starts kicking around health care reform.

[Kire]

5. If you wanted to ask Shulman some questions...

...what would you want to ask?

I would really appreciate any ideas or any suggestions you might have.

Sincerely,
Erik

Are you anywhere near Columbus, I have a very supportive, good friend to me out there. He's a poet, and he was recently promoted to chief of his village in Ghana. PM me if you want to get his inspirations every Friday in your email box.