From: Ted Derousse – USA Wrestling
Date: 2/27/2003 3:26:25 PM

Subject: Your help is needed


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CONTACT EDUCATION SECRETARY PAIGE AND ATTACK HIS TITLE IX POSITION

Please send to all interested persons in your address book.

 

In a statement made through a spokesman on Feb. 26, Secretary of Education Rod Paige has indicated that he will only consider the proposals forwarded by the federal Title IX Commission that were passed unanimously.

 

This position would wipe out all of the work by the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics to reform Title IX. THIS POSITION WOULD ALLOW FOR THE CONTINUED ELIMINATION OF OLYMPIC SPORTS SUCH AS WRESTLING, SWIMMING, GYMNASTICS, TRACK, BASEBALL AND OTHERS.

 

This position would allow a few dissenting voices, led by quota advocates Julie Foudy and Donna DeVarona, to throw out all of the ideas passed by the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics that they did not agree with.

 

CONTACT ROD PAIGE today by email or FAX. Send a carbon copy of your letter to PRESIDENT BUSH. Forward this message to all of your friends and colleagues. DO IT NOW.

 

CONTACT

Rod Paige

Secretary of Education

400 Maryland Ave. SW

Washington, DC 20202

E-mail: rod.paige@ed.gov

FAX: (202)260-7867

 

SEND A CARBON COPY

President George W. Bush

The White House

Washington DC 20202

FAX: (202) 456-2461

Comments via phone: (202)456-1111

 

Talking Points

* Paige has abandoned the Olympic sports community by insisting that only unanimous recommendations by the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics be considered.

* This position will maintain the status quo, and will allow for the continued discrimination. It will continue the loss of programs and opportunities for Olympic sports such of swimming, wrestling, track and field, gymnastics, baseball, and many more.

* Nowhere in the American system is "unanimous" consent required. It is not required to pass a law through Congress. It is not required for Supreme Court decisions. The United States is based upon a majority rules principle. A requirement of unanimous consent is un-American.

* This will wipe out the work of the federal Title IX Commission. It means the efforts of the entire Commission was a waste of their time, and the Commission process was a waste of taxpayer money.

* It allows only one dissenting voice to overrule the decision of the majority of the Commission.

* Two members of the Commission, Julie Foudy and Donna De Varona, are biased and are leaders of a special interest group. They had their minds made up before the hearings began. Their goal is stop any and all changes to Title IX enforcement. By only reviewing unanimous proposals, you give Foudy and De Varona veto power over the entire 15-member panel.

* You have abandoned the campaign promises made by President Bush. You have buckled to the pressure of a small but well-financed radical group seeking to keep the status quo.