Dean Jocelyn Benson of WSU Law School

3/24/2015

Dean Jocelyn F. Benson

Wayne State University Law School

Room 3315

471 W. Palmer St.

Detroit, MI 48202

Dear Dean Benson,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I have a strong interest in studying history, social justice, and government.  The main things I look for in these subjects is understanding the need to advance on Civil Rights to help protect people who are different from being discrimination, a need to reform education to help improve learning for people, and the need for government reform to reduce corruption and make them accountable on different things.   Your 2010 campaign as a candidate for Secretary of State really got me very interested in studying your work and I was very proud to vote for you. Dean Benson, I find your work on making a great difference in education, helping Michiganders, and promoting different ideas to reform government to make them work very inspiring to me. 

Dean Benson, I like your commitment to improve education to help people get active in learning how civics with government work by teaming up with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to make ICivic better educational tool.  I wanted to say thank you for your work with Supreme Court Justice O’Connor on ICivic because the website helped me understand how government work, helped me comprehend on learning the subjects with doing interactive games with learning facts, and it helped me pass my government class in high school and college. ICivic really made a great difference for me because it helped me get interested in learning more civics, government, U.S. Constitutional amendments, and learning more about Supreme Court cases.  I liked on how you created a Michigan Allies Project to help give legal support for victims of hate crime. In Michigan I really appreciate your commitment to help Michiganders when you let the fight to keep a Secretary of State office in Beuna Vista Township from closing to help people get access to the office so they can get the help they need and your assistance to help protect voters from being discriminated or make it harder to vote in the 2008 election.  Dean Benson, “State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process” is a great book because it helped me learn more about the role of how Secretary of State’s job, explain how elections work, explaining the laws in elections, and promoting ideas to reform Secretary of State with campaign finance reform to reduce waste, fraud, abuse, make voter registration easy for people to apply, find ways to make polls improve on allowing voters to get a chance of voting, and reduce corruption in elections with government officials.

Dean Benson, your work on making a great difference for education, writing a book “State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process”, and helping Michiganders on advocating for reform, assisting victims of hate crime, with assisting on protecting voter’s rights really makes a great difference for history and society. Your work on these issues including assisting retired Supreme Court Justice O’Connor on ICivics really benefited me to learn more about government and Civics with helping me improve on comprehending these subjects.  Even though you didn’t win the 2010 election I wanted to say that you really made a great difference for Michigan and with your hard work and commitment to help improve society and education.  I am proud to have you as a true role model to help me become more active in learning government, voting, discovering different ways to reform government, and to continue studying history with using it as a tool. I want to wish you well as Dean of WSU Law School where you can expand on your good ideas. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter and making a difference for society.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

The Honorable Dennis DeConcini

4/9/2015

Senator Dennis DeConcini

DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, P.C.

Suite 200

2525 East Broadway Blvd.

Tucson, AZ 85716-5300

Dear Senator DeConcini,

My name is Matthew Winick and I recently read your book “Senator Dennis DeConcini: From The Center of The Aisle”. The book was great and I enjoy reading it. As a person with an interest in history with learning about government your book helped me understand what a U.S. Senator can do in Congress with a moderate view. Senator DeConcini, I was amazed by your work on helping support President Jimmy Carter on to get the Senate to pass the Panama Canal Treaty to help improve relations between the U.S. and Panama, helping Sandra Day O’Connor get nominated for the Supreme Court, your work to help American Natives with their property, and helping President Bill Clinton pass his 1993 budget bill. Your book really helped me understand your courage to break from ideology and to find ways to work with other different political party. Also in your book I really enjoy learning about your early life, your career as an attorney before becoming a U.S. Senator of Arizona, and your work in the Senate.

Senator DeConcini, I did some more research after reading your book.  On the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 I was very proud of you for joining U.S. Senators from both political parties like Ted Kennedy, Richard Lugar, Alan K. Simpson, George Mitchell, Tom Harkin, Bob Dole, and John Chaffee to supporting the legislation because The ADA helped benefit me. I have Autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble speaking when I am communicating with other people and I struggle to comprehend learning new subjects at a regular pace.  The Americans With Disability Act of 1990   really made a difference for me because it expanded Civil Rights to help protect me from being discriminated in public, education, jobs, and many others and it helped me get an education from elementary school through community college. In Education the ADA helped set up accommodations like extra time on exams with taking exams in a different area to reduce distractions, have T.A. with tutor to work with me on learning on subjects with improving on comprehension, use technology including a recorder to assist me on improving note-taking when listening to lectures, and special education programs with learning support services helped assist me by setting up accommodations with setting up which classes to take.  In 2014 I was able to get my Associates Degrees in Liberal Arts at Washtenaw Community College with the help from the ADA.  In Liberal Arts my main focus is history, government, business, science, and the criminal justice. I plan on using what I learn from these subjects is to continue exploring with studying history to understand the to advance on Civil Rights to protect people who are different from discrimination, the need to protect the environment from pollution by having environmental protection with implementing renewable energy, need for peace negotiations with human rights to reduce tensions between different countries, a strong need for checks and balances to reduce crime while protecting people’s civil liberties, and many others. Also for the future I want to use history as a tool to teach people or work in a museum about the need to improve society and help create good ideas to help solve problems that we face.

Your book is a great example of what it is like to be a U.S. Senator, the need to find ways to work with another U.S. President, and how it is important to find ways to solve different issues by working with another party.  Senator DeConcini, your work on supporting the ADA really inspires me to continue on learning new subjects and the ADA helped benefit me for education, Civil Rights, and the future.  Your work really makes a great difference and thanks again for supporting the Americans With Disabilities Act. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter and making a great difference for me. I want to wish you well at DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, P.C. to continue making a difference for society.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

Former Governor Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan

2/25/2015

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm

Richard & Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy

2607 Hearst Avenue


Berkeley, CA 94720-7320

Dear Governor Granholm,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I am proud to have you serve as Governor of Michigan.  I have a strong interest in studying history and government because I am interested in learning with understanding on how different ideas or events can improve society. When studying history I like to understand the need to advance on Civil Rights to protect people who are different from discrimination, the need to protect the environment by having environmental protection with promoting renewable energy to reduce pollution, a strong need to help people including workers get the job skills they need to be ready for the workforce, and many others.  I find your work as Governor of Michigan to be very inspiring to me with your common sense ideas to improve Michigan.

When you were Governor of Michigan, I was amazed that you made history by becoming the first female to be Governor of Michigan.  When you were Governor of Michigan I liked on how you implemented on creating “No Worker Left Behind” program to help people including low-income workers and laid-off workers get job training to improve on their skills with assisting them to go into the workforce. “No Worker Left Behind” was a great common sense idea to help people get jobs with stressing the need for insource jobs due to the free trade agreements sending jobs overseas which causes a negative effect on our economy with loss of jobs.  During the economic crisis I was very proud of you for working with President Obama on helping the auto industry get the bailout to save jobs and getting the American Recovery Act stimulus to our state. I was able to benefit from your work with President Obama on the stimulus package because I was able to get into a job program in July 2009 until August 2009 at EMU College of Business called The B. Side: The Business Side of Youth. In the B. Side I took classes with listening to lectures about how businesses work and was trained on different job skills. As a result of your work on bringing the stimulus to Michigan I was able to improve my job skills with development and this helped me get a job in the future. On the environment I liked on you supported renewable energy manufacturing jobs like wind, solar, and biofuel to reduce pollution while creating a clean economy.  On Civil Rights I like your commitment to help minorities start up their businesses, extend domestic partnership benefits with supporting civil unions for same-sex couples, and supporting people with disabilities’ rights. Working to improve with advancing on Civil Rights is common sense and makes a great difference to improve society.

I have Autism with a learning disability and having a disability has been hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning new subject and I get teased about having a disability. The American With Disabilities Act helped me be protected from being discriminated and helped me get an education by allowing me to have accommodations like extra time on exams, have special education with tutors and T.As work with me on improving comprehension and assist me on assignments, use a recorder to record lectures to help me improve on note-taking, and also have technology to help work with me on improving comprehension like audio readers where it read backs to me to help me read to learn a topic and have subtitles with close caption when watching tv, movies, or documentaries to help me understand what they are saying with helping me understand the subject.  Even though I have benefited from the ADA I truly appreciate your commitment to improve Civil Rights and assist people with disabilities on protecting their rights and it helps me feel confident.  I enjoyed reading your book A Governor’s Story: The Fight For Jobs And America’s Economic Future. Your book was very inspiring to me because it helped me get interested in understanding the need for insource jobs to help our economy, assist workers on job skills training with development, and promote clean, renewable, and alternative energy like wind, solar, energy efficient products, and biofuel as an energy source with having a clean economy. Also I liked your book because it helped me get motivated to learn more about history, your achievements as Governor, and how ideas can make a difference.

From a person with a disability and a strong interest I strongly believe that you make a great difference for Michigan with your common sense ideas to improve Civil Rights, help train workers for the workforce, and promote renewable energy to reduce pollution. Governor Granholm, your book makes a great example of what we need today including the future with ideas to make our country stronger.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter and making a difference. I’m sending you a story about working on my disability, my ideas to improve society, and how you and many other U.S. Governors are making a great difference.

Sincerely,

Matthew  Winick