Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.
Every elected official receives hate mail. Usually, it’s because of a hot topic. Sometimes it’s just because a citizen is obsessed and really hates the official. I don’t receive hate mail. I do sometimes receive nasty phone calls and in 22 years I have received probably 3 or 4 nasty letters. In the exchange below there is someone who has become obsessed with me and once a month sends me his/her version of love on postcards. I am not bothered. It comes with the territory, but this latest string is actually sad and shows how ill-informed someone can be. So here goes along with my editorial comments in red.
- #1 “Joyce, Your twitter is like cat litter. (I think cat litter is very useful and aren’t we all glad someone invented it) Cut the crap (BTW, Twitter is OK but Gettr is Bettr) and start serving the people of Glendale. Please retire soon.” (Just to aggravate my admirer I may run for another term)
- #2 “Thank you Joyce for spreading misinformation that you’ve gathered from right wing OAN?…NEWSMAX?…Fox?…(I admit to watching all three. Doesn’t all media lie?) and not getting a Covid booster shot! Maybe someone who desparately (sic) would like to have it, can have yours! (I’m sure someone out there did) We hope you don’t get Covid, or, (I know this will disappoint, but I have not had Covid) If you do, don’t have long term side effects…but…if you do get Covid, maybe Glendale AZ will get a new council member that actually serves the community.” (You hope I don’t get it, but if I do, are you wishing for my death?)
- #3 “Joyce Clark should resign! Her spreading of misinformation , bigotry and white supremacy views are unacceptable!” (Complete lack of creativity. I wish writer could have been more original rather than using buzz words that have lost all meaning)
- #4 “Joyce, Please retire!! 800,000 US COVID DEATHS! 800,000 Families CRYING! 12,000 Deaths in Maricopa County,+ More deaths again! – at schools!! (Aw, come on now. I’m not powerful enough to have caused all of this, am I?) Stop spreading misinformation! Stop the white supremacy, bigotry, stop watching social media + DO YOUR JOB!!” (Alert everyone. If you watch social media you become too paralyzed to work)
- #5 “How low can Karen Joyce Clark go?? (Excuse me, but aren’t Karens are usually Democrats?) It’s ok for Republican David Gowan to make money off a fireworks bill and ruin our peace! (I advocated for a fireworks hours limitation bill in the legislature that passed this year) Its ok for John Fillmore to introduce legislation to limit AZ voting rights. (In recent national polls, 78% want voter reform) God forbid if there (sic) housing developments for low income families and families that have been displaced because of high rents. (Not sure I get this sentiment. Glendale has disbursed over $7M in rental subsidies to keep people in their homes) Come on Joyce. Stop the disinformation and resign or retire! We don’t care about your opinion. DO YOUR JOB!” (For someone who claims to not care about my opinion, he or she obviously spends a lot of time seeking my opinion…)
- #6 “Jobs, jobs, jobs in Greedy corporate warehouses, (More jobs for our residents are wonderful!) In high rent greedy corporate housing, in a polluted, brown sky city, expanding its landfill with more and more plastics and toxic waste. (I love our landfill and so do thousands of our residents who use it each month, even you do) ZIP IT, CLARK!!”
- #7 “Dear Joyce, Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! You are getting to be known in Glendale as ‘NVJ’ (Nazi Vagina Joyce). (At least this insult showed a bit more creativity than the others, but still not very original) Do your job or move to Russia with your buddies at Fox.” (I’m not sure I want to learn the language)
You may be asking, just what am I reading? My office receives at least one of these anonymous ‘love letters’ each month. It’s always the same style of postcard and in the same handwriting. To tell you the truth, my council assistant and I are starting to look forward to them. I just wish this person were more creative or brave enough to sign a name to them. Instead, this person uses vitriolic language with no examples or evidence to back up vague statements. In all seriousness, this person is obsessed and needs help. Can you imagine your life being so barren that the highlight of your month is to send a hate-filled postcard to your local, elected official. So sad.
© Joyce Clark, 2022
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