Tag Archives: Sara Feigenholtz

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: SNEAKY SARA FEIGENHOLTZ, PART 1: THE HB 5428 STATE SECRET

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Due to the length this entry was becoming, the time involved in researching and writing it, and the need to get information out immediately on the abomination known as Illinois HB 5428, I am publishing this blog in parts. Depending on the finished product it will be in either two or three parts. Here, in Part 1, is an overview of the bill and its murky passage through the Illinois House. I also comment on machinations that appear to have gotten it passed under everybody’s radar when similiar bills for more than a decade have been met with loud howls from us. Illinois Open and Bastard Nation will release an Action Alert shortly. This entry and the part(s) to follow should be read in conjunction with the action alert. NOTE: In 2008 I wrote extensively on HB 5428’s predecessor look-alike, HB 4623. Two of my blogs llinois Warning! Trainwreck ahead for records rights and Illinois: That train keeps a rollin’ – more piece-a-crap legislation context the current mess. I will also reference others as we move along. ****** And I feel like I’ve been here before/Feel like I’ve been here before/And you know it does make me wonder/What’s going on Continue Reading →

ILLINOIS: FEIGENHOLTZ FLOPS IN 5TH:

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Yesterday Illinois State Representative and adoptee rights obstructionist Rep. Sara Feigenholtz lost her bid for Rahm Emmanuel’s 5th District Congressional seat. In a low turn-out special Democratic primary, Feigenholtz, considered by some to be the front runner, scored third in a field of 12 candidates. Our Sara lost to Cook County Commissioner and reformer Mike Quigley. While Feigenholtz and her followers like to think of her as “progressive” (she was endorsed by the National Organization for Women, Emily’s List, Equality Illinois, and SEIU), since the Obama victory in November she’s been demoted to old school Dem. She’s no Obama though she plays one. (Neither is Obama, but I’ll save that for another day!) And it didn’t help that she went negative on old friend Quigley. For those who care about these things, here’s a ward breakdown of the votes. Last night, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin wrote of the voter rebellion In a district the Machine has controlled since 1958 — except for two aberrant years — with congressmen named Rostenkowski, Blagojevich and Emanuel, the 5th was the ultimate insider’s seat. What exactly did an outsider like Quigley have that would change that? Voter rebellion. After a presidential campaign that Continue Reading →

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT! STOP ILLINOIS HB 4623! FULL ACCESS FOR ALL ADOPTEES!

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BASTARD NATION: THE ADOPTEE RIGHTS ORGANIZATION P.O. Box 1469 Edmond, OK www.bastards.org PLEASE DISTRIBUTE FREELY ILLINOIS ACTION ALERT URGE THE ILLINOIS HOUSE TO VOTE NO ON HB4623 HB 4623, sponsored by Representative Sara Feigenholtz, is a dangerous bill and must be voted down. Sometime during the month of April, the Illinois House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on HB4623. We do not know what day the bill will get to the House floor, so we must ACT IMMEDIATELY in order to let our voices be heard. {Please see easy Contact Information below} IF PASSED INTO LAW, HB 4623 WOULD……..give birth parents 6 months after the bill is passed to file “Denial of Information” forms with the Adoption Registry. Any adoptee whose birth parent files a “Denial of Information” form will NOT receive an original birth certificate. This section includes a 6 month advertising campaign to let birthmothers know their choices. …..define three different classes of adult adoptees, those born before 1946, those born between January 1, 1946 and January 2009, and all prospective adoptions. …..give all prospective birth parents 21 years in which to file a Denial of Information Form. Current law requires them to file a denial within Continue Reading →

ILLINOIS: TRAINWRECK UPDATE

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I spoke to Steve in Sara Feigenholtz’ office this afternoon. As I suspected, the current HB 4623 (CI fix-it bill) will become the records “access” bill. The hearing tomorrow is for reading and approval of the new access records language–which will become Amendment One. If passed the new bill will go up on the Illinois Legislative site probably on Friday. Hearings on that will be scheduled later. When the new bill goes up, I’ll post the link here. After that, the fun begins. UPDATE 3/13/08, 10:05 PMMelisha Mitchell has posted a copy of the proposed amendment on her White Oak Foundation website. The amendment is 77 pages long! Here is her fun FAQ on the bill which is being flogged as “a simple fee-free way for an adoptee who was born in Illinois to request a non-certified copy of his or her original birth certificate.” Well, not ALL adoptees!

ILLINOIS: THAT TRAIN KEEPS A ROLLIN’–MORE PIECE-A-CRAP LEGISLATION

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HEADS UP! According to Kristen Kridel in Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune, Sara Feigenholtz’s alleged “records access” bill will be heard in the Adoption Reform Committee of the Illinois House on Thursday. (SF is the committee chair). Feigenholtz and professional confidential intermediary money hound Melisha Mitchell gushed proud during their Monday press conference, which included former Denver Bronco’s fullback and adoptee Howard Griffith and Chicagoland radio personality Steve Cochran. Ms. Feigenholtz, in her prepared speech, glommed a line from DMC, without credit, Chapter 1 of everyone else’s life begins with a birth certificate, a document I and everyone behind me are prohibited from having. WLS elaborated: “We have been deprived of our history and our identity. We have been deprived of the chapter that everyone else in this state simply gets.” Ms. Feigenholtz may talk the talk, but she doesn’t walk the walk. Under her cowardly compromise bill some adoptees are more equal than others. Since the bill doesn’t seem to be on the Illinois Legislative webpage (more about that in a minute) we can only judge from the summary posted in the Trib: Anyone born before January 1946 will get their original birth certificates immediately (their records were sealed retroactively) Anyone Continue Reading →

ILLINOIS: WARNING! TRAINWRECK AHEAD FOR RECORDS RIGHTS

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Today Anita Field, founder of Illinois Open sent a letter to Illinois adoptee rights activists updating them on the “open records” situation in that state–the new bill that’s supposed to liberate all of their OBCs from the file cabinets of oblivion. The news is not good. Below are my comments followed by Anita’s letter. On November 19, 2007 the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Illinois State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-12) intended to file legislation that would make available to all Illinois adoptees, their original birth certificates. Bastard Nation collectively rolled its eyes and waited. Some BN members had experienced Ms Feigenholtz’s “devotion” to access in the mid-1990s, when she abandoned them and a clean records bill to a seriously dysfunctional registry scheme that treats adult adoptees like 7 year olds. Due to her new press-reported putative interest in adoptee rights, Ms. Feigenholz was invited to attend the December 2007 Donaldson roundtable in New York City. Like some other interested parties, she was unable to attend in person so she and her “assistant” Melisha Mitchell sat in by phone. Mitchell is the proprietor of The White Oak Foundation, a professional CI service (Mitchell pays herself $65k a year–Guidestar) that passes itself off Continue Reading →