Rebuttal to Mark Hatfield

Hatfield is a traitor to the heritage of the state of Oregon
He is a traitor to the Founding Fathers of the United States
I hope my father never supported him
I hope my grandfather never supported him
I hope none of my family ever supported him

Hatfield
You are a slug that has been leaving
a slimy trail
across the state of Oregon
for decades
I wish someone
would pour salt on you
so you can die
a slow and horrible
death

In fairness, one more anecdote about the senator.

When I was ten, there was this awful turkey hatchery near my home. They had huge dumpsters out behind the place where eggs and turkey chicks that somehow didn't meet their high standards were dumped by the truckload and left to die. My friends and I would go down there and try to save them. Most of them would already be dead from the cold, or from being crushed under the weight of so many others. But sometimes, we would find a baby still struggling to live. Often, we would find half-hatched eggs, with little beaks still weakly trying to push their way out into the world. I can't say how many we pulled out of that hell, trying to save them. But I only remember one that actually survived that trauma.

I was so angry that this was happening, but I felt powerless to do anything about it. Someone, my teacher I think, told me to write to my elected representative. So I wrote to Senator Hatfield. I told him about the turkey hatchery and the dumpsters and the murdered baby chicks.

After several weeks, I got a long, serious, signed letter back from the Senator. It said he had received my letter, that he had spoken with the owner of the hatchery, and that it wouldn't happen anymore. He said the hatchery had a new owner, who was trying to "work all the bugs out." The chicks in the dumpster had been an oversight, but new methods would prevent this from happening any more.

I was so relieved, and so grateful to the senator for taking my concerns seriously. Secretly, I think I still find it endearing that he responded to me at all, since my letter had been written in crayon. He's probably not a bad guy, the senator.

Later, I walked down to the hatchery to see if there really had been any change. Sure enough, the dumpsters were gone. No dying chicks to rescue, no smell of rotting eggs and turkey flesh. It should have felt like victory.
Something didn't feel quite right, though.

It wasn't much later that I learned that the "bug" they had worked out at the hatchery was simply to kill all the chicks before dumping them, and to leave the dumpsters inside the warehouse until garbage day. The chicks were sill dying, but now I could do nothing to help them.

So, while Mr. Hatfield really isn't such a bad guy, the truth is, elected representatives don't do anything for us. If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.

Some historical background on the esteemed Senator

SEN. MARK HATFIELD (R-OR)
On May 2, 1991, Sen. Hatfield sold between 1,000 and 15,000 dollars worth of stock in James Madison LTD (a bank holding company with two subsidiaries--Madison National Bank (Washington, DC) and Madison National Bank of Virginia (McLean, VA).

One day later (on May 3, 1991), James Madison LTD announced a net loss of 59.0 million dollars for the fourth quarter of 1990; a net loss of 73.9 million dollars for all of 1990; a net loss of 8.7 million dollars for the first quarter of 1991. According to the Washington Post (dated May 4, 1991), these losses left Madison's subsidiary banks broke with liabilities exceeding assets by 12 million dollars.

On May 7, 1991, the Washington Post reported that worried depositors "...crowded Madison National Bank's branches in Downtown Washington to withdraw their funds...."

On May 10, 1991, Federal Regulators declared Madison to be insolvent, seized the banks, and sold them to Richmond-based Signet Banking Corp. for 18 million dollars.

On May 31, 1991, the Washington Times reported that the House Banking Committee was going to grill Federal Regulators on the Madison failure. In particular, the Committee was interested in learning why Federal Reserve made an emergency 127 million dollar loan to Madison just one day before the bank was declared insolvent.

On September 27, 1991, the SEC charged the former Chairman of Madison (John Broumas) with violating market manipulation and antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws from January 1989 through July 1990. The case against Mr. Broumas was "settled" in October 1991.

NOTES: Sen. Hatfield has been the subject of two ethics probes--one in 1987 and another in 1992 for accepting improper gifts related to his position on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Sen. Hatfield is the ranking minority member on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

OTHER NOTES: Sen. DeConcini also owned stock in James Madison LTD. However, he did not get out before the failure. Interesting--The Republicans controlled the Executive branch of government in 1991; Hatfield (a Republican) got out, and Deconcini (a Democrat) did not

His office address:

PO Box 8639
Portland, OR 97207
(503) 827-0120

There was a time, perhaps 30-40 years ago, that I respected Mark Hatfield. That respect no longer exists. I find it next to impossible to hear about, look at, or listen to, him anymore. Strange how the strengths of people like Tom McCall and Wayne Morse, who are no longer with us, grow in our memories over the years and yet some living ex-legislators who should know better are sputtering out like half-baked fireworks.

This is senator mark hatfield, and I'd like to say you guy and girls are a pack of losers, and should all be terminated like those turkeys. In fact, you're lower than turkeys and should be given the death penalty. I plan to be re-elected to senate and then to President Pro Tempore and then overthrow the whole U.S. Government!!!! Ha, ha, ha,!!!!