Former Governor Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey

10/29/2015

Governor Christie Todd Whitman

Founder of The Whitman Group

P.O. Box 146

Oldwick, NJ  08858
USA

Dear Governor Whitman,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in learning history and studying public policy. The main reasons I have a strong interest in these subjects to learn the need to advance on Civil Rights to reduce discrimination in order to protect people who are different, protect the environment from pollution, have health care reform to help people with pre-existing conditions or who can’t afford insurance get the care they need, and many others. Governor Whitman, I find your work as a moderate Republican 50^th Governor of New Jersey on different issues to be very inspiring to me.

When you served as 50^th Governor of New Jersey, I was very proud of you for your commitment to support including advance on Civil Rights to help protect women, minorities, people with disabilities, and people with different sexual orientation from being discriminated. Also on Civil Rights, I liked on how you supported affirmative action to help minorities, women, and people with disabilities on getting assistance with funding for education to reduce discrimination in education and fund businesses owned by them to help them compete in the business environment and being a supporter of gay’s rights. Your record in education including improving child safety like funding educational program to teach youth about the need to reduce hate crime to make learning environment including society better and funding special education to assist students with disabilities on getting educational accommodations including educational software to help improve their literacy, and pushing for a law to require school buses to have a crossing control arm, a device to help protect students from being hit by a bus including assisting bus drives to any pedestrians walking in front of them is common sense.  I like your work on reforming the criminal justice system by creating a juvenile court system including community service programs to work on finding ways to help non-violent youth offenders on rehabilitating instead of strict sentencing and expanding state’s bias crimes laws to help protect people who are harassed by law enforcement based on sex, minorities, people with a disability to reduce tension between community and police and end discrimination.  On the environment, I was amazed by your commitment to protect the environment by implementing Green Acres Bond Act to preserve state parks including clean watershed areas from pollution, supporting renewable energy as an energy source to reduce air pollution, and worked with governments including sewers authorities to improve wastewater treatment program to prevent pollution from contaminating watershed including drinking water. Also to improve healthcare, I was very proud of you for breaking your own party to push for legislation to require insurance companies to pay 48 hour maternity hospital stays for mothers who had babies including women who are pregnant to help reduce women from paying a high fees for a hospital stay, funding health care assistance to help families who have members with HIV or people with HIV get treatment to assist them, and increase funding research on reducing HIV or other transmitted diseases.

I have Autism with a learning disability and having a disability is hard because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle with communication when speaking with other people, and other people tease me about having it.  Special education programs including the ADA helped me be protected from being discriminated in education including public places and help created accommodations like extra time on exams, having educational software to help me improve on comprehension, and have a T.A. or a tutor work with me on assignments in schools including Washtenaw Community College.  Even though these things helped me with my disability, I still struggle with it. Governor Whitman, your work on supporting Civil rights to reduce discrimination including protecting people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on Autism and it helps me have the courage to work hard at learning different subjects.  I enjoyed reading your book It’s My Party Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America because it does a great job emphasizing the need for moderate GOPs to help protect women’s rights, support Civil Rights, and protect the environment from pollution instead of going too far right. Also I learn from your book about you being a moderate GOP Governor in New Jersey and what it was like distancing from extreme views.

Governor Whitman, I strongly believe that you made a great difference as Governor of New Jersey on improving public safety making education stronger, advancing on Civil Rights to reduce discrimination, funding healthcare to reduce diseases, and protecting the environment from pollution.  Your work inspires me to work hard on Autism and have an interest in learning history including public policy. Also your book makes a great example of the need for moderates to help stop people with extreme views from hurting our country and it helped me learn more about your work.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a difference, writing a book, and inspiring me. Please continue advocating for the need for more moderates, a strong need for renewable energy, and the need to protect the environment.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick