Alexandria,

I'm a strong supporter of yours and want to thank you for writing such a powerful, courageous, and articulate letter.

I didn't put a sign in my yard because I don't support Blake and I didn't want to disrespect the Party by defacing a sign and taking his name off. Thus I allowed the Party to take away my voice to some extent. I put a sign in my yard for the last election even though I didn't support Meredith Richards, and it was an unpleasant experience for me.

I think your assessment of the damage done in the name of a joint campaign with a unified voice is accurate. There is room in the Party for diverse views, and the Party should not be afraid for those views to be heard.

As evidenced by this election, we need all the support we can get. It's a shame to have such a strong, hard-working, caring, and courageous candidate such as yourself be muted by the press and your own party.

I don't doubt that this contributed to our loss in the election. Hopefully, we can all work to change the Party's tactics and run more open and successful campaigns in the future.

Thanks again,

Peter Markush (electronic mail, May 9, 2002)