DONTUSEKIDS.COM
PROTECTING THE CHILDREN

[COX ANNOUNCEMENT]

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15:  Late today Attorney General Mike Cox posted formal notice of his cancellation of the “Children’s Billboard Contest” on the Pay Kids Foundation web site. Today’s announcement regarding the contest, which he had reportedly described as a “mistake” earlier in the week, was notable for the absence of any admission of error, instead characterizing the cancelation solely as the result of “some who have questioned our intentions while misrepresenting [our intentions].”

Although mental health professionals had publicly criticized the contest as emotionally harmful to the children it targeted, for its explicit “encouragement” of parents to discuss inappropriate matters with their children, Attorney General Mike Cox did not speak to the issue in his announcement--an omission that had one mental health professional asking “what is he going to do about the harmful advice he gave the parents of Michigan for the past three weeks?  Pretend nobody heard it?”

Although many parents had called for the Attorney General to set the record straight on what is appropriate for unwed parents to do with their children, Mr. Cox declined to do so, leaving parents to wonder why he did not feel a responsibility to meaningfully correct his admitted “mistake”.

“How many parents out there are thinking that this kind of stuff is good to do”, asked one, “since it was so heavily promoted by the Attorney General’s ‘publicity machine?’”

“Doesn’t he have a responsibility to put at least as much effort into undoing the damage his contest caused as he did promoting it?”

Attorney General Mike Cox’s failure to fully “step up and accept responsibility”, as he has so publicly and ferociously admonished noncustodial parents to do, left some shaking their heads in bewilderment, while others say they expected as much. 

“Judge me on my good intentions?”, complained one, “Nothing about me is given one ounce of respect by Cox except my money. How long are my ‘good intentions’ going to keep me out of jail--no matter what the reason is if I can’t pay my child support?”

Questions raised by noncustodial parents about the symbiotic relationship between Attorney General Mike Cox and the Pay Kids Foundation were only further heightened by Mr. Cox’s clear authorship of the announcement.  Strangely, his self-promotional statements and the statement that “I am ending the contest effective immediately” were delivered in the first person, while all statements regarding the contest were described in terms of “we”, i.e., Pay Kids . . . suggesting that he and Pay Kids are indeed one and the same--except when a “mistake” is made.  Then Pay Kids takes the blame. 

One parent who had been especially vocal in his criticism of “Pay Kids”  expressed sympathy for the many volunteers and “good people” of the organization, whom he concludes have been “used and abused ” by an Attorney General bent on the advancement of his political career.  “He’s just hanging them out to dry . . . just like all the parents and kids he claimed to care so much about.”

It would seem obvious that Mr. Cox has a greater duty of care than he has met in his cancelation of the “Billboard Contest.” What remains to be seen is if he will “step up” to meet it . . . or if he will “let” others take the blame while pretending, for his own part, that no harm was done to the children whose welfare he so often professes as his highest priority.

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