Katrina victim to F: Get over it!

A letter from a Hurricane Katrina survivor about Bryan Kennedy, the Democrat running against Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner, is getting national attention today on two of the best-read political blogs, My DD and Daily Kos. The writer sent the letter to friends in the Gulf area and sent Kennedy a copy.

Kennedy's campaign is uphill in a heavily Republican district, but Sensenbrenner's arrogance and heartlessness in the past year have gained him national notoriety. That can only help Kennedy. The letter:

Dear Friends,

Those of you who know me well, or had the misfortune to hang out with me in the Katrina aftermath, know that one of the things that really upset me (other than that almost everyone I know had lost either their home, their car, their job, their business, their school, their church or any number of combinations of the above) was Congress’ refusal to grant a reprieve to those folks from the implementation of the Bankruptcy Reform Act. A mean-spirited piece of legislation in good times, it was just cruel and unreasonable to impose it on the citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi during the Katrina aftermath.

Like many of you who are lawyers, I was called upon to help folks during those last days before the statute went into effect. One gentleman, who sat in my makeshift BR office and cried while trying to wrestle with the decision to file bankruptcy after his home was destroyed, particularly moved me. He feared that there would be no way for him to pay off the huge and largely uninsured mortgage along with his other obligations ($250K and a house marinated in sewer water for 2 weeks does not go far in paying off an $800K mortgage). He, of course, would have no relief under the law after October 17th. He asked me why, with all that he faced at that given moment, did he have to decide now whether to take such a serious step. I had no real answer—actually, all I could do was cry too.

After that encounter, rather than my usual response—go home, have a glass of wine, and bemoan the fact that the world was not too good a place—I thought I would try to do what little I could to change it. My attention was quickly drawn to the good Congressman from Wisconsin who, when asked to consider the delay of this particularly vile legislation that he had authored, commented that this was just the whining of those who were opposed to it in the beginning, and that we should “just get over it”. Well, try as I might, I just couldn’t do that; so I started looking into Mr. Sensenbrenner’s record a little more and discovered that he was one of the 11 members of Congress who voted to deny ANY relief to the folks of the Gulf Coast after Katrina struck. Apparently, he shared the view of only a handful of his fellow Congressmen that that is what the Red Cross is for! So I decided that helping get him out of office was one thing I could do.

That’s when I discovered Bryan Kennedy. A professor from Wisconsin, Mr. Kennedy had decided to take on Mr. Sensenbrenner and run for Congress in his district. Better yet, he shared my view of the good Congressman. His web site included his campaign ad that derided Mr. Sensenbrenner for turning his back on us. That basically sold me, and off went my check. Of course, that really isn’t enough so I thought I would pass on to you Mr. Kennedy’s name and the information below. If others who felt the way I did sent a check maybe that would be enough. So I’m asking you to send something to Mr. Kennedy cause I realllllllllllly would like to say, come this November 7th, to the good Congressman. “So you lost the election. Sorry Mr. Sensenbrenner, ‘Just get over it!’” Thanks.

Your friend,

Jan Hayden

Kennedy's website.