An excerpt from: Love People - The True Life Story of Mark Anderson, Missionary, Lawmaker, Judge

www,amazon,com/Love-People-Anderson- Missionary-Lawmaker- ebook/dp/B09KJN5NLW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LLRQ Q2O7WN5Q and keywords=love+people+the+true+life+story+of+ mark+anderson and qid=1664381864 and qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIs InFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D and s=books and sprefix=Love+people+%2Cstripbooks%2C138 and sr=1-1.

An excerpt from Mark’s book…

It wasn’t long though before I was in the news again. This time, I was covered in the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as radio news and talk shows in other cities around the nation. How did I generate that level of interest, you might ask? I answered a letter from a constituent.

A woman wrote asking me to increase her welfare payments since she had five children and was struggling to make ends meet. I explained in my letter that, as a state legislator, I did not have the power to raise the monthly amount that the federal welfare program was paying to recipients. I should have stopped there, but the Ann Landers in me refused to let it go. I went on to offer her several common-sense suggestions as to how she might improve her financial situation including returning to school to get a degree. One of my other suggestions was to consider re-marrying, since having a partner who shares the expenses and brings in income to the family can make the financial situation easier.

The woman was outraged that I would suggest that she get married in order to improve her situation and instead of calling me to complain, she called the media. Soon, my letter was printed in the local

newspaper and my suggestion was a topic of radio talk shows locally and nationally. Some people were offended that an elected official would suggest such an outrageous idea and expressed that I must be a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal to even think along these lines. Others saw me as a champion against welfare abuse and were encouraging me to “get those welfare queens.”

Ultimately, after a few days of intense media attention, I invited her to the Capitol to meet with me. I said that I was sorry she had such a bad reaction to my suggestions. Coming out of that meeting, she told the media that she would rather vote for her dog than vote for me. Thank goodness, the dog was not on the ballot, as it may have been a close race!

I was also portrayed in a political cartoon that I proudly display now in which I am sitting on a park bench next to a bedraggled, addicted, likely homeless woman. In the cartoon I am telling her, “You need to find a sugar daddy.” I have to admit that it was pretty funny. I realized that perhaps in the area of advice- giving, less is ultimately more. In any case, after a short time, the media moved on to other national crises and left me alone. In an interesting denouement, I found out a year later from a friend that this lady ended up marrying a doctor! Of course, the media failed to do a follow-up story about that. In any case, it was an interesting experience being the whipping boy in a national debate about marriage, social policy, and women’s rights.