The showdown between Wisconsin public employees and Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature is in its third week. Rather than simmering down, the political conflict ramped up this past weekend with the largest rally yet — a crowd variously estimated at from 70,000 to 100,000 union workers and supporters gathered Saturday at the Capitol in Madison.
It could have happened here.
If Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer had gathered a few more votes, it is easy to imagine Emmer and Walker moving together in tandem to eviscerate the collective bargaining rights of public sector employees in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich makes clear in an opinion article reprinted in this edition of the Jewish World, the struggle in Wisconsin (and in a number of other states) is a political power play, an attempt to cripple labor unions that provide a substantial base of support to the Democratic Party.
These efforts are cloaked in the rhetoric of budget balancing; but, as I have written previously, the billionaires (the Koch brothers et al.) backing the Tea Party movement (and their favorite politicians like Scott Walker) have an agenda that is at odds with the health and welfare of most working people. Reich warns that the Democrats have to stand up to the mega-rich who “have been using their billions to corrupt politics, hoodwink the public, and enlarge and entrench their outsized fortunes.”
And apart from partisan politics, it is gratifying to see that Jewish clergy in Wisconsin have not shrunk from joining this epochal fight. On Feb. 25, more than 100 Jews from three Madison synagogues celebrated Shabbat in the Wisconsin State Capitol’s North Gallery.
In an op-ed distributed by JTA, Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, of Congregation Shaarei Shamayim in Madison, wrote about the lively scene in the Wisconsin Capitol: “Singing Shabbat psalms and reciting prayers, we had found a Jewish expression for our deepest values — values of community, education and justice; values of respecting the elderly and caring for the poor, the sick, the mentally ill and the disabled; values of discussion, debate and compromise. The governor’s legislation threatens these values.”
So, what is the Jewish basis for opposition to Gov. Walker’s proposal?
“Jewish support for the labor movement often stems from religious texts mandating workers’ rights,” Rabbi Zimmerman writes. “As the Torah states, ‘You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer.’ Or it stems from pride in our involvement and leadership in the labor movement in the early 20th century.”
She explains further: “While Jewish opposition to Walker’s attempts to destroy labor unions is certainly rooted in these religious and secular ideals, it also centers on fundamental questions at the heart of our Jewish values: What kind of society do we want to live in? What kind of world do we want to leave to our children? How can we stand idly by when proposed legislation will devastate the very fabric of our communities?”
Crossing over the St. Croix River, we find a similar mess brewing in the Minnesota Legislature. The editorial plan late last week was to run a Page 1 story about how Sholom Community Alliance was about to take a nearly $1.8 million hit in Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposed budget cuts. However, on Monday, a new state revenue forecast lopped about $1 billion off of the budget shortfall for the biennium — from $6.2 billion to $5 billion. And Gov. Dayton announced that he would reduce the proposed $200 million in spending cuts to the Department of Human Services for nursing homes and home services for the elderly.
Gov. Dayton (endorsed for governor by the Jewish World last fall), the ideological antithesis of Gov. Walker, proposes to resolve the budget shortfall with a mixture of spending cuts and tax increases for the wealthiest families in Minnesota. The Republicans, who now control both legislative bodies, have vowed to fight any tax increases; they will submit their biennial budget toward the end of the month.
Under the governor’s revised budget, Sholom’s state revenues will be cut by about $1.1 million, according to Ethan Roberts, director of the Twin Cities Jewish Community Government Affairs Program. In conversations with the AJW last week and this week, Roberts pointed out that Sholom will see decreases in its Medicaid and private pay income over the next two years. Again, the governor’s revised budget proposal will restore a substantial amount of the state funds slated to be chopped.
Roberts also mentioned that Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis, Jewish Family Service of St. Paul and the St. Paul JCC will have much smaller amounts of state funding cut, as part of the budget retrenchment that affects “waivered services” for the elderly: case management (social workers), meals-on-wheels, adult day care, medical interpretation, etc.
The legislative budget process will play out over the next two months, and Roberts stressed that “people are getting involved,” writing letters and contacting their legislators. “The community is not passive,” he said. “We are acting as activists on behalf of our seniors.”
Asked for comment about what decreased state funding means for Sholom Community Alliance’s operations, Wendy Baldinger, the organization’s board president, responded: “We are optimistic with the vastly improved budget situation that Gov. Dayton will reconsider his cuts to long-term care.”
For American Jewish World readers concerned about the ideologically based assault on working people and unions, it’s time to seize the day. Or you can take a pass. But when your grandchildren ask you what you did when the Tea Party took power, what are you going to say?
— Mordecai Specktor / editor@ajwnews.com
(American Jewish World, 3.4.11)
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