Buckeye State Blog - Open Leter from Megan Pappada - Comments

Why should she have to go

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:50:25 -0700

Why should she have to go back on her words, is there not a freedom of speech? By going back on her word weakens her ingegrety... Should stand by her word, and just defend her actions rather than try to take them back.

First and foremost, I know

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:48:46 -0700

First and foremost, I know Megan, we were in classes together at Ohio State. She is about as Democrat as them come! I do not see anything "wrong" with the article she wrote when she was 18, maybe that is because I am a Republican, but more so because she is right. The Democratic party is making more enemies because of their stances on various issues that the majority of US Citizens believe in, such as Illegal Immigration (Yes it is Illegal) among many other issues. By the firing a bright young woman from the party, just shows how the party does not adjust to the times.

Still segregating after all these years

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:50:43 -0700

Still segregating and not ashamed to put it out front. Still , after all these years.

So today we do...

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:37:10 -0700

So you are saying we do now still support segregation...? Im getting either extremely bored or we have missed something. We were under the impression that discrimination was over at least overtly. Is there a "Caucasian" dorm even available. Would we be upset if there was.

Violations of PC...

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:37:56 -0700

areunforgivable among liberals and democrats...if you don't toe the party line in lock step, you become an untouchable....you're out of there.

ODP's Loss

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:26:30 -0700

As someone with the distinct pleasure of no longer having to deal with the BS that is Ohio Democratic politics, I have to say that the ODP has truly outdone itself this time. I don't know Megan very well. I don't like her, and I don't dislike like her. Regardless, I know what it feels like to be her right now, and I'd like to tell her that while at the moment, this seems like the biggest and worst thing to ever happen, in time, it will be a notch on your impressive political experience belt. I know it sounds trite now, but better to learn what a sick game we're playing early on in your career. You'll be a better political professional for it. And I look forward to the day you're signing Chris Redfern's paychecks. Firing Megan represents a fundamental flaw in politics today, and worse, an inherent weakness in the Democratic party. The ODP's solution to a completely surmountable challenge was most certainly the easy way out: a complete pandering to the win/lose, PR campaign partisan nonsense that's ruining our electoral system. I wonder how Democrats claim to be the party of opportunity and equality when the party's institutional practices remain shortsighted and exclusionary. Megan wasn't running for political office. She had no obligation to disclose something she wrote nearly a decade ago. If the issue here is fitness to serve, I wonder how the ODP would know, since they fired Megan before she had a chance to prove herself either way. If anything, it was the ODP's responsibility to adequately screen a candidate before hiring her, but summarily dismissing her because of their sloppy legwork is both unfair and irresponsible. Is what Megan wrote when she was 18 offensive? Sure. Has she since changed her mind? Absolutely. Since when are we the party who stunts our next generation's personal and political growth and transformation? Does this mean that if someone once voted Republican, we should never let them join our team? The logic just seems so flawed. The Democratic party could use more people like Megan, people who own up to their mistakes and who are willing to learn from them. The Ohio Democratic Party should worry less about their image and more about building a sustainable party in a state ripe with infighting and corruption. It figures they lost Ms. Pappada; they wouldn't know a good thing if it walked in and applied for a job with them.

Megan Pappada's disclouser

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:39:08 -0700

I can't believe that some people are so narrow minded in this country and the democratic party to think that everything needs disclosed. I am sure that when everyone applies for a job once they graduate they don't remember every little paper they wrote or every statement they made. We are accepting a woman running for President who's husband while President had an affair and we accept her, but Megan is unworthy because of something she wrote as an 18 year old. Where are the values for our country. If it comes down to it for Hillary Clinton to be in the final running for President I would probably vote for her for what she stands for now, not what her past holds.

Megan deserves a second chance

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 07:20:48 -0700

Megan is the most passonate liberal dedicated to democratic causes I have ever met. Her specialty in women's issues and her passion to fight for them are sorely needed at ODP next year. ODP made a huge mistake.

Democratic values?

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:48:42 -0700

Yeah, the party needed to fire her for statements so out of touch with Democratic values. I mean, she questioned the value of segregated dorms! If the Democratic party has any non-negotiable value, it's got to be segregated dorms.

Well

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:07:56 -0700

If we are all to be held to a high standard then the dems wouldn't even be around. Ted Kennedy killed a woman. Well, ok, that was YEARS ago.....let's forget that one. AND he was way older than 19 when he did it. LET'S forget that to. BUT, to hold this bright wonderful woman who has grown in so many ways. As a daughter, sister, cousin, niece, friend, in such a regard. Used to think that Republicans had a problem with honesty. Dem's have a way bigger problem, they have just lost a VALUABLE woman who would have brought so much to the table. AND I will NO LONGER VOTE DEM. They lost more than just Megan, they lost votes.

I agree.

Muffet — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:46:49 -0700

I tell my clients all the time that they have to come clean with me. I can deal with things as long as I know about it. It's the unknown that can kick you in the butt.

I think she should have disclosed it. She obviously knew it could be a problem some day. Putting something in the attic doesn't make it go away.

For the past seven years, I've danced a delicate Texas two-step with my skeleton, before it dropped its clumsy left foot on me recently.

I also fault the ODP for not doing a simple google search. Amazing. I am afraid that if she had stayed on in the job, she would have spent 50% of her time 'splainin' that she doesn't think this way any more, rather than being able to do her job.

disclosure

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:34:27 -0700

I thought the real issue was disclosure. Her statement would have been more powerful during the job interview rather than later.

Continuing education

scurrvydog — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:09:02 -0700

is a real learning experience.

"He gazed up at the enormous

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:10:45 -0700

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." -George Orwell's final paragraph to "1984"

I do not believe that Megan

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 05:51:07 -0700

I do not believe that Megan made a mistake. The only mistake made was by a party so intent on being a feel good place for people to not havre their feelings hurt by someones politically incorrect speech. My views on affirmative action, title 19, most social issues including prostitution and drugs are for more liberal then those of the party's. I think that we need to rethink the idea of diversity and strive to seek real diversity of the individual and not just from those who fit a particular category. Obviously I can never work for the so called "party" now that my views have been voiced asnd they do not follow the party line. I think it is important for person's here to remember that Bill Clinton took views unpopular with the party on the death penalty and NAFTA an nobody told him that he had to leave the party.

Open Leter from Megan Pappada

Administrator — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:03:36 -0700

Tonight I got an email with an open letter from Megan Pappada, the young woman the party recently hired, then fired hours later when they discovered she wrote correspondence to the Ohio State Lantern about 7 years ago (when she was still a teenager) that wasn't quite in synch with Democratic values. Here's her letter:

Maybe it’s because I’m humble. Maybe it’s because I’m still a bit naïve. Or maybe it’s just because I’m human. I never thought that I would garner such attention in one day. I went to Cedar Point on Wednesday for a relaxing day (you oughta ride the Top Thrill Dragster!) and when I returned to check my phone, I found that I had messages from several people talking about my personal story on the blogosphere. It was kind of odd to see how many people were commenting on my situation.
Let me first say, I am a proud Democrat. I have been a registered Democrat since I was 18. I have worked for numerous candidates and elected officials of the Democratic Party for the past seven years. Through my position at The Ohio Democratic Party, I intended to forward the very cause that means the most to me - the participation of all citizens in the electoral process, specifically women and minorities.
The letter I wrote to The Lantern when I was a freshman was not respectful on many levels. It is because of the diverse Ohio State University that I have become the person I am today. I have come to appreciate not only the contributions, but the value of all people, regardless of gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
The foolish words of an 18-year-old girl should not overshadow the hard work of a passionate, devoted 25-year-old woman. George Bernard Shaw once said, "If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton-you may as well make it dance." For the past seven years, I've danced a delicate Texas two-step with my skeleton, before it dropped its clumsy left foot on me recently. As an inexperienced college freshman, I wrote an op-ed that attempted to minimize the value of diversity on the OSU campus.However, I ultimately succeeded only in publicly demonstrating my own inexperience and shallow world view.
At 18, none of us really have much clarity on the real issues that affect people. We see the world through a different lens; often a skewed one that doesn’t represent who we will become. It is impossible to look into the future and know where we will go or what we will do. It is only through our personal life experiences that we grow, change, and evolve. Yet, that growth and evolution is often stunted because of the mistakes and missteps of our youth. Today, millions of high school and college students post pictures, blogs, and messages on MySpace and Facebook with little regard for the future. My mistake, printed seven years ago, will hopefully serve as a message to others to consider carefully the consequences of such actions.

I appreciate the measures that increase the diversity of the student body and faculty at OSU, not only because every qualified and driven student should have equal access to higher education, but because the University is enriched by the diversity of its students and faculty. My own experience and growth are a direct result of this fact. It is precisely because of my experiences at The Ohio State University and beyond that an essay written about race by Megan Pappada, senior in Political Science would have been 180 degrees divergent from Megan Pappada, freshman in Political Science.

I’ve never been much of a dancer myself, and I knew eventually either the skeleton or I would make a scene. Now that I’ve started dancing, though, I do not intend to sit the next dance out. My past, although very different from my present and future, is still mine. That past will always be a part of me, but now that that past has been brought to light, I hope a new beginning lies ahead.
Megan Pappada 08.16.07

I've been thinking about Megan for the past day, hashing stuff out in my head. I was rash in my first story when I accused the party of stonewalling on this story, and folks from the party set me straight (and I'm still sorry for that). However, as Megan's letter shows, the party fired a woman who sounds to be a very different person from the one that wrote that original controversial letter to the Lantern.

Our strength as Democrats lies in our ability to compassionately and empathetically deal with the plight of others. If we can't look past the "foolish words of an 18-year-old girl" who's clearly done quite a bit of growing up since her one-off, then we as a party have neither the wisdom nor the compassion to govern for the people of the great state of Ohio.

I said and thought some pretty ridiculous things when I was 18; I'm sure Chris Redfern and Doug Kelley did as well. Chris, Doug - seriously - please reconsider your spot on this one.

You're wrong here.