Friday, September 26, 2008

Margie Slagle tried to help the situation - Sosen silenced her

URGENT MESSAGE PLEASE READ

mslagle
Member

URGENT MESSAGE PLEASE READ
RE: Tom Madison
« on: Today at 09:04:24 AM »

Dear SOSEN Members,

As an attorney, one who works diligently both day and night, on appeals for sex offenders in the state of Ohio, I feel compelled to share my feelings on Tom Madison’s performance on the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on August 18th. After reading the “Bravo Tom” comments in the Mike and Juliet Show thread, I am changing “compelled” to “urgent”.

Tom Madison does NOT represent you. Tom Madison doesn’t even understand what it is like to BE you. He doesn’t now, nor has he ever had to live under the same type of obtrusive laws and restrictions that you and your families face every single day. If you go to the Oregon State Sex Offender Registry and put Tom Madison’s name in the search engine, you will not find him. He is not on the Internet, nor is he subject to community notification. In short, his life has not been affected all that much by his sex offender conviction. He has never been asked to leave his home, or told that he cannot attend functions at his child’s school, or take his children to the swimming pool or park. Tom Madison has no clue what it’s like to be on the registry and all that that entails, yet he succeeded in discrediting the one man who could have raised awareness and helped all of my clients and yourselves by making real changes.

What Tom Madison did on that television program was set me, my clients, and folks like yourself BACK, he did nothing to help the cause. He single-handedly negated all of the hard work we have done to attempt to eliminate these laws. Even worse, he decimated the credibility of the former legislator who accepted sex offenders in his home because of his heartfelt beliefs. Tom Madison completely discredited what Tom Armstrong has done because he became angry, unrepentant, and combative. His ego was definitely showing, once again, just as it did back in December in Ohio, the only difference this time is he definitely kicked it up a few notches.

What he DID do was appear proud to be a sex offender. Tom proclaims to the world in every way he can, including business cards that have “sex offender” written on them, that he IS a sex offender and by all accounts from yesterdays demonstration, an unrepentant one. None of my clients, nor most of the registered sex offenders I have met, are proud of the behavior that landed them on the registry. I know many who were not guilty, but even THAT does not make them proud.

Tom Madison hurts the very people he purports to represent. He needs to check his mouth at the door and stop attempting to speak publically on your behalf. If he doesn’t, the positive changes you all want so badly to come about, will never be realized.

The “angry, pissed off sex offender” persona does nothing but harm, because the general public doesn’t CARE that you are pissed off and angry and they never will, as a matter of fact they ENJOY having the knowledge that you ARE angry and miserable. You will not get the results you are looking for with performances like I saw out of Tom Monday morning.

You will know you are successful, that you have made inroads in the battle against these laws when you hear, “Wow, you’ve really given me a lot to think about here, maybe these laws AREN’T working, maybe they ARE doing more harm than good”, out of people who just said to you “I think you should live in the middle of the desert.” You won’t get that by being angry, yelling, or trying to bully the person into seeing things your way. Which is exactly what Tom tried to do.

If you truly care about this cause, and you want these changes to occur, you need to let Tom Madison know that he does NOT speak for you, and that if he can’t speak without having a tantrum, you’d just as soon he shut up.

I love the work that I do. I put more hours into it than there are in a day often times, but I keep going because I see, with my own eyes, every single day what it’s like to have to abide by these restrictive laws. I cannot sit back, while silently watching someone who is supposed to be HELPING you, actually destroy your hopes and dreams of a better future in this country. Every time this man opens his mouth to speak publically, he knocks us back and negates progress that we cannot, that YOU cannot afford to lose. Every minute amount of progress we make is hard fought for, and I’m tired of seeing MY clients, and folks like you hurt by a man who’s ego is the size of Mt. Everest.

What did Tom Madison show the American Public Monday morning?……No,…… he did NOT show them that registered sex offenders are mad as Hell and they aren’t going to take it anymore. He showed them that they are hot tempered, in denial, unrepentant, and VOLATILE, therefore people to be feared. That’s ALL he showed them!!

We cannot afford this. We need to work together to intelligently and calmly educate the misinformed. Not yell at them and point a finger in their faces while telling them they are.

I have every faith that Linda and Jackie will do the right thing by severing all ties with this man and his organization. If they don’t, he will bring SOSEN down with him, and that would be a terrible sight to see.

We can win this battle if we stay strong and true to the cause. I’m with you, and behind you. Never give up.

Sincerely,

Margie Slagle, Attorney
Ohio Juctice and Policy Center

Kinsella
Member

Re: URGENT MESSAGE PLEASE READ RE: Tom Madison
« Reply #1 on: Today at 09:21:10 AM »

Margie I agree with you 100%. Tom lost any chance of having a positive impact for us the second he raised his voice. I don’t know him personally and have never met him, but it does seem like he is proud of his status as a sex offender and if that is true then he does not truly understand what we are going through. I hate to criticize anyone who is fighting for us, but I felt the same way you did after watching that segment. I felt like his anger just confirmed a lot of peoples misconceptions about sex offenders.

LetsGetReal
Member

Re: URGENT MESSAGE PLEASE READ RE: Tom Madison
« Reply #2 on: Today at 09:21:12 AM »

After reviewing the two video clips and conferring with others, I agree with Margie Slagle. I missed several statements due to my anger with FOX. That interview has done a vast amount of damage to all of us.

LetsGetReal
Member

Re: Fox News Mike and Julie show this morning (Monday)
« Reply #33 on: Today at 09:36:46 AM »

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After, viewing both videos and conferring with others, I am disassoicating myself and cfcoklahoma from SoClear and Tom Madison.

He does NOT represent ME or the cause.

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