Letter chides Senator Barbara Boxer for asking a general to address her as 'Senator.
In June 2009, Brigadier General Michael Walsh testified before the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer of California. As General Walsh was answering questions about New Orleans' levee system, Senator Boxer interrupted him mid-sentence to request that he address her as 'Senator' rather than 'Ma'am':This exchange touched off a partisan political brouhaha, with one side maintaining that the incident was merely an appropriately polite interjection by Senator Boxer requesting that she be addressed as she preferred, and the other side maintaining that it was a rude and disrespectful mid-sentence interruption of a general who had already been exhibiting due deference by addressing her as 'ma'am.'The above-reproduced letter, which takes the latter tack and chides Senator Boxer for her action, has been circulated in versions attributing it to several different names, with the most common variant concluding with the mailing address of one Jim Hill of South Hill, Washington. Mr. Hill told us that he did indeed write and send it:With respect to the letter to Senator Barbara Boxer, I am in fact the author of it. The only thing I received [from Senator Boxer's office in response to my correspondence] was a 'form letter,' or at least it seemed to be, that stated that since it was determined that I was not a constituent of the Senator's, that the letter would not be shown to her. I felt that to be a little bit blunt, but not all together out of place. I thought no more of it until about two weeks later when I received an email from a friend and fellow airline pilot asking me if I had indeed written the original letter. He attached the email which he had received that contained my letter. I have received hundreds of letters addressed per the copy of the letter circulating over the internet. It would seem that someone within the Senator's office either forwarded a copy of the typed letter to a friend, or posted it on the internet. The letters that I have received have come from all over the country, and from persons from all walks of life. I have only received one negative letter to date.
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