Former U.S. Senator Mark Udall of Colorado

10/22/2015

Senator Mark E. Udall

c/o Grand Canyon Trust

2601 N. Fort Valley Road

Flagstaff, AZ  86001
USA

Dear Senator Udall,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, MI with a strong interest in studying history. The main reason I have a strong in studying history is to learn the need to advance on Civil Rights to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, have healthcare reform to help people who can’t afford insurance or have a pre-existing condition get the care they need, and have checks and balances in judicial system to help protect people’s civil liberties from being violated while finding ways to reduce crime.  Senator Udall, I find your work as a U.S. Senator of Colorado on different issues really inspiring to me and your work helped made a great difference for me.

When you served in the U.S. Senate in 2009-2015, I liked on how you were committed to work hard on making Civil Rights stronger by supporting repealing DADT policy to help protect people who served in the military from being discriminated based on their sexual preferences, working with moderate Republicans on supporting Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help allow filing for equal pay discrimination lawsuit when being discriminated in pay based on gender, supporting Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act to expand on protection for minorities, gender, people with disabilities, and people with sexual orientation from a hate crime. Another thing is on Civil Rights, I really liked on how you supported with voted for the need for U.S. to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities treaty to help expand better protection for people with disabilities from being discriminated even though it didn’t get passed in the Senate due to extreme political parties.  In the U.S. Senate, I really liked on how you supported the need to protect national parks from being damaged, work with Republicans on supporting finding ways to reduce pine beetle from damaging the environment to help preserve natural resources, and pushing for renewable energy like wind, solar, biofuel, and energy efficient products to reduce our addiction to oil with gas including reducing pollution.  When you served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, I was very proud on your hard work to advocate for the need to improve better protection for American’s right to privacy by voting against the Patriot Act, advocating for the need to reduce bulk collection of data on U.S. Citizens to help protect U.S. citizens from losing their civil liberties, and push for the need to have a warrant in order to surveillance including better protection of the 5^th amendment including the 6^th amendment of the Constitutions from being weaken to help protect Americans from losing their right for a reasonable search warrant or having the right to have a lawyer with having a trial including right to hear what evidence that they have on you.  On this issue I liked on how you worked on being bipartisanship with liberals, moderates, and conservatives on addressing the need for reform to help protect American’s civil liberties even though Congress was in gridlock or played politics.  To make the economy stronger and make healthcare a priority, I was very proud on how you supported the American Recovery Act, a stimulus bill to fund job training programs to help workers including youth improve on the job-skills or learn them and voting for Affordable Care Act to help people with pre-existing conditions or who can’t afford health insurance get the care they need.

Your work on improving Civil Rights, advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, and supporting United Nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities treaty to be ratified even though it didn’t pass really help expand better protection for me from being discriminated based on a disability which is Autism with a learning disability in education including public places and helped me work hard on Autism to learn different things. Having Autism is hard because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects and sometimes I struggle with communication when speaking with people.  Your support for the American Recovery Act helped me get into a job-training program in Michigan called The B. Side of Arts where they had lectures about how business works and job training skills session to help me and other people learn different job skills and got paid. The American Recovery Act made a great difference for me and helped me expand on my work skills where it helped me get a full-time job.  The Affordable Care Act helped me stay on my parent’s health insurance until I turn 26 since I’m 24 years old. With out the ACA, I would have trouble with affording health insurance on my own. Also your advocacy for the need to protect American right to privacy and supporting better protection of the 5^th amendment with 6^th amendment from being violated really inspired me to be interest in learning about why civil liberties are important.  I agree with you on the need to make America safer by protecting Americans from losing right to privacy or their civil liberties like protection from unreasonable search warrants, have the right to a fair trial with having the right to a lawyer, and to hear any evidence against you when finding ways to reduce crime.

Even though you lost your re-election for your Senate seat, I am proud your hard work on making a great difference for our country and history on supporting expanding Civil Rights, being bipartisanship with Republicans on different issues, advocating for the need to protect American civil liberties from being violated, protecting the environment from pollution, and supporting health care reform. I’m proud to call you my favorite U.S. Senator because your work helped benefit me and it helped me do well in society with improving on my job skills, being protected from being discriminated based on a disability, and getting assistance on health care. Also you helped taught me to importance on the need for Civil Liberties to help protect American’s right to privacy and their Bill of Rights.  Thanks for giving me a chance to write a letter praising your work with how it helped benefited me, taking the time to read my letter, and making a great difference for society including me.  I wish you and your wife Ms. Maggie Foxx to do well in the future and to please continue on making society better with your work. Please feel free to share my letter with your family.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

Had to contact Grand Canyon Trust to get permission to send a letter to Senator Udall. 

Former Governor Mike Leavitt of Utah

10/20/2015

Governor Michael O. Leavitt

c/o Leavitt Partners LLC

299 South Main Street, Suite 2300

Salt Lake City, Utah  84111-2278
USA

Dear Governor Leavitt,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in studying history and learning on how people’s ideas or work help make a great difference for society. The main reason I have a strong interest in learning these subjects is to learn the need to advance on Civil Rights to protect people who are different from being discriminated, have healthcare reform to help people with pre-existing conditions or who need to get the care they need, protect the environment from pollution by supporting renewable alternative energy including implementing environmental protection and many others. Governor Leavitt, I find your work as a moderate Republican 14^th Governor of Utah and later as EPA Administrator to be very inspiring to me.

When you served as 14^th Governor of Utah, I liked on your commitment to making Civil Rights stronger by being a supporter of protecting women., minorities, and people with disabilities from being discriminated in public, jobs, and education.  Another thing on Civil Rights that I liked was on how you express the need for an Equal Rights Amendment to help protect women from being discriminated based on gender even though it didn’t pass the state legislatures.   On healthcare, I was amazed on how you were able to work with the state legislatures on passing “Healthprint”, a health care reform bill to help children get covered on getting the medical care they need, help people who live in rural areas get coverage, and adding other people in Utah with pre-existing conditions to it so they can get the treatment they need. Your advocacy on the need for technology like educational software for education use to help students with illiteracy problems or who have a disability improve on comprehension with getting the resources they need to learn efficiently and being bipartisan with different governors from both parties like Democratic Governor Roy Romer of Colorado on creating Western Governors University where it was a non-profit school and  having technology with online classes to help students learn better in an educational environment is common sense and a great approach to make education a better learning environment.   To protect the environment, I liked on how you pushed for a ban on nuclear waste dumping in your state to help protect people from being harmed including to improve public safety from the dangers of nuclear and supporting renewable energy including alternative energy like solar, wind, biofuel, and energy efficient products to reduce carbon emissions.  Under your role as EPA Administrator, I was very proud of you for developing a plan to help clean up the Great Lakes from toxic chemicals including other pollutants to help conserve natural resources, improve the economy with tourism, and to make public safety a priority.  Another thing I liked was on how you worked with school buses on promoting with implementing them to run on clean biofuel to reduce air pollution and signing “Clean Air Diesel Rule” to put high standards on diesel fuel including other air pollutants to protect the ozone layer including the air.

I live in Michigan and I was very grateful of you for leading the EPA to clean up the Great Lakes in your role as EPA Administrator because I enjoy visiting the Great Lakes and learning the origin with the history of the Great Lakes. When I visit the Great Lakes, I remind myself on why it is important to protect the environment from pollution and the need for conservation with restoring national parks including historical sites to help teach generations about the way of life and to improve public health.  Governor Leavitt, I have Autism with a learning disability and having it is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects and sometimes I have trouble communicating with people. The Americans With Disabilities Act helped protected me from being discriminated in education and improve Civil Rights. Even though I still struggle with a disability, your work as Governor of Utah on helping protect people with disabilities including advocating for their rights and supporting educational technology to help improve learning really inspires me to work hard on Autism and to continue using educational technology like a recorder to help improve on note-taking, subtitles when watching documentaries or watching tv, to help me process information with improving on vocabulary, and reading programs including audio programs to help me improve on comprehending.  

Governor Leavitt, I strongly believe that you made a great difference as Governor of Utah and as EPA Administrator on supporting Civil Rights to reduce discrimination, protecting the environment from pollution, having healthcare reform to help people get the medical care they need.  Also I’m proud of you for being a moderate Republican on supporting these issues. You have inspired me to work hard on Autism and to be interested in history with learning the need to protect national parks including public lands in order to learn history and how they play a big part in society. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, making a great difference for society with your work, inspiring me to continue learning, and cleaning up the Great Lakes to make society better including making Michigan a better place. Please continue advocating for these good ideas including protecting the environment from pollution to help continue making society better.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

Dick Van Dyke

10/14/2015

Mr. Dick Van Dyke

23215 Mariposa DeOro St.

Malibu, CA 90265
USA

Dear Mr. Van Dyke,

My name is Matt Winick and I am a huge fan of your acting along with your music talent. When I was in elementary school my favorite movies were Mary Poppins  nd Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. These movies were my favorite because you did an excellent job acting and singing with your dance moves which made these movies fun to watch. In Marry Poppins my favorite songs that you sang was “Step in Time”, “Jolly Holiday”, and “I Love To Laugh”.  Some of Mary Poppins songs are very funny and clever. Mr. Van Dyke, I am very grateful for your teamwork with Ms. Julie Andrews on Marry Poppins by making the songs clever and making the plot of the movie fun with humor and symbolism about the need for friendship, having a different social class develop a friendship. I consider Marry Poppins to be one of my favorite movies of all time. I really enjoy watching The Dick Van Dyke Show because I really like your clever jokes and humor. My most favorite tv show of your acting was Diagnosis Murder. I really enjoy watching Diagnosis Murder and liked your character Dr. Mark Sloan. Also what I liked about the show was how a doctor is interested in solving murders along with having some humor.  Diagnosis Murder was a great show because I really liked on how you including your son Barry Van Dyke and the rest of the cast made each episode great, clever, humorous and have a great balance between drama, comedy, and crime.

Mr. Van Dyke, I have Autism with a learning disability and having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects and sometimes other people tease me bout having it. Your movie Marry Poppins helped me become interested in learning music, understand the need for friendship, and to find enjoyment of life when life is difficult. I use Marry Poppins to help me work hard at overcoming struggles. Your work on making songs in Marry Poppins helps me get interested in playing the Bb Clarinet where I work on improvising songs including Jazz and making them unique.   

I strongly believe that you made a great difference in Disney, music, T.V., and movies through your acting and music talent. Also you have truly inspired me to work hard on Autism, become interested in music, and to be a fan of your work in acting.  Mr. Van Dyke, I have a story about my life where I dedicated you for being a true inspiration to me and I hope you get a chance to read it. Also I’m sending you a card thanking you for inspiring me with $5 gift to help you for the future. I was wondering if you could please give me advice about how to be an actor, explain what it like to act, and your advice about friendship. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, my story, and taking the time to respond to me.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick  

Fmr California State Senator Martha M. Escutia of 30th District of California

10/19/2015

Ms. Martha M. Escutia

Vice President of Government Relations

c/o University of Southern California

Suite 260

3551 Trousdale Parkway

Los Angeles, CA  90089
USA

Dear Ms. Escutia,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I have a huge interest in studying history including public policy.  The main reason I have a strong interest in these areas to learn the need to advance on Civil Rights to reduce discrimination,  need to help victims of crime get the care they need,  have healthcare reform to help people including children get the medical care they need, and many others.  Ms. Martha M. Escutia, I find your work as California State Senate to be very inspiring to me on different issues.

When you served in the California State Senate in 1998-2006, I liked on how you pushed for legislation to allow schools to promote with implementing healthy foods for school lunches including nutrition programs to help children get the nutrition that they need and to reduce health risks.  On dealing with the criminal justice system, I was amazed on your role as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee on making the court system be access to help the poor including victims get the help they need when dealing with an issues and helping victim’s rights by creating a Self Help Center to help assist with represent the victims of negligence, abuse, and fraud get the assistance they need when going through court or recovering from a trauma.  Also I liked on how you helped children on getting their own court-appointed advocates for child custody cases to help protect a child’s well being or to recommend on how to help a child during a custody hearing. I liked your approach on improving education by creating remedial education programs to help students that struggle learning or have a disability get assistance on learning different subjects and funding special education to help students with disabilities on getting accommodations with assistance on learning education.  To help improve the environment, I liked on how you created Children’s Environmental Health Protection Act to help protect children from unhealthy levels of air pollution caused by air contaminants, and supporting AB 289 Detecting Commercial Chemicals to allow state agencies to require manufacturers to identify which chemicals are being used, limit on how much chemicals can be used, and have manufacturers work with the state to find ways to detect the chemicals in the environment to help reduce health risk from toxic chemicals  and to help make manufactures work on finding ways to make products in a safe way without endangering other people.

Ms. Escutia, your work on reforming the criminal justice system got me to be very inspired to take a Intro To Criminal Justice course at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I enjoyed taking the class because I got to learn about how the court system works, Miranda rights, law enforcements, and different Supreme Court cases. Also in the class my instructor emphasized about the need to make the criminal justice system better by providing better care and assistance to help the victims of crime including children.  My instructor also worked with me on creating ideas for reforming the criminal justice system like treatment programs to help rehabilitate drug users to reduce them from being addicted to drugs, have community services for non-violent offenders including juveniles to help them from re-offending, more counseling programs to help victims of crime recover from trauma, have DNA testing for cases to reduce sending innocent people to a jail for a crime they didn’t commit, and many others.  I have Autism with a learning disability and having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects and I struggle with speech when communicating with other people.  Even though special education and accommodations helped me get an education, I still struggle with it. Your work on helping people with disabilities get an education they need with helping them get accommodations really inspires me to work hard on Autism with a learning disability and to continue learning different subjects.

I strongly believe that you made a great difference in your role as California State Senator on improving nutrition for children in schools, helping students with illiteracy problems including students with a disabilities get assistance on learning different subjects, protect the environment from pollution, and reform the criminal justice system to help victims of crime get care that they need. Your work really inspired me to be interested in studying history, learning about the criminal justice with the need for reform to make the system better, and to work hard on Autism.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, making great achievements to make society better, and inspiring me.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick