“Wisconsin is at its best when it is open and tolerant,” Gov. James Doyle (D) said to about 60 members of Milwaukee’s Jewish community last week.
It is a “basic Wisconsin value” that people are able “to go as far as your talents and work will take you,” and are not hindered by race, religion or sexual orientation, he said in his opening statement at the first Gubernatorial Candidate Forum held on June 22 at Jewish Family Services.
In defending his support for stem-cell research against opposition by primarily members of the religious right, Doyle said, “I’m not going to impose one group’s religious values on everyone else.”
And in response to a question from a panel of local Jewish agency representatives, he criticized the proposed “Marriage Amendment” to the state constitution, which will be on the ballot as a referendum item in the November election, as “heartless and divisive” as well as unnecessary.
Yet in response to a question from the audience, he also defended the executive order he signed on June 15 to create the Wisconsin Office of Community Faith-Based Partnerships.
“There is already a great deal of public money” that goes to faith-based programs that provide assistance to ex-offenders, or provide housing and childcare, among other services, he said. Many of these programs “have proven effective” and can deliver services at lower cost, he added.
This office, he said, will be a “clearinghouse” and source of information on what funds are available to faith-based groups, and how they may and may not be used.
“It is important to protect constitutional principles” and make sure “public money is not used to proselytize,” Doyle said. When asked if the office will enforce this, he said enforcement will come from “the granting agencies” and that creation of this office does not change the rules about which faith-based programs are and are not eligible for public funding.
Deficit reduction
In his opening remarks, Doyle emphasized that when he took office four years ago as the state’s “first Democratic governor in 16 years,” the state government had a $3.2 billion budget deficit.
He said he has balanced this budget “without raising taxes” by making “deep cuts in state government.” Yet he also “protected the educational system” and “the major health care programs,” he said.
Doyle also said that he has presided over growth of the state’s economy during his term. He contended that the state added “170,000 new jobs” and that the state’s exports have “grown by 40 percent.”
A panel of four representatives of local Jewish organizations, moderated by Joyce Altman of the executive committee of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations, asked Doyle questions after his opening remarks.
Questions from Bill Heilbronner, JFS vice president, and Richard Rakita, past chair of the Jewish Home and Care Center, focused on health care issues.
These included Medicaid; the state’s FamilyCare program, which allows seniors and people with disabilities to receive long-term care in their neighborhoods and homes; and an effort to require parity of insurance coverage for mental health.
Doyle said he wants to expand the FamilyCare program, which is now only available in some parts of the state; said that he “would love to sign” a parity bill; and said, “I’ve worked hard to protect medical services in the state.”
The other two panelists were Joel Pittelman, co-chair of the Wisconsin Jewish Conference, and Michael Waxman, president of the MJCCR.
They focused on such issues as the “Taxpayer Protection Amendment” and the referenda on the November ballot, one for the proposed “Marriage Amendment” to the state constitution defining marriage as between a man and woman, and an advisory referendum on restoring the death penalty in the state.
Doyle replied that he opposes all three of these proposals. He also contended that his opponents placed the two referendum items on the ballot out of a strategy: “Figure out what issues divide us” and “hope there are a few more on your own side.”
Doyle said this is “a bad way to govern,” and that he himself believes that “90 percent” of the state’s voters care more about such issues as “jobs, protecting the environment, good schools and affordable health care.”
Sponsored by JFS and MJCCR, the event was co-sponsored by many local Jewish organizations, agencies and synagogues.
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