Local pundits react to the elections
“Is it good for the Jews?” That is what Mordecai Lee’s grandmother would wonder about the results of any elections, according to her grandson.
And that is no doubt what much of the Wisconsin Jewish community is wondering about the results of the elections for state and federal offices held this past week.
Lee, a former state senator and now professor of governmental affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said that in his personal view, he would have told his grandmother to be happy about the national results, with the Democrats clearly taking control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans. (As of press time, it is uncertain whether the Democrats will also take control of the U.S. Senate.)
“I think the change in parties in the House will in the long run be in Israel’s best interest,” Lee told The Chronicle in a telephone interview. “Support for Israel will become more bipartisan in an overt sense.”
Lee said that the Republican Party sees itself as more closely identified with Israel’s Likud Party, while the Democrats are more closely identified with Israel’s Labor Party.
With a mixed Democratic legislature and Republican presidency, “we will see a more nuanced and balanced approach to Israel and the peace process.”
About state politics, however, Lee said his grandmother “might wrinkle her forehead a bit.” In social justice terms, Lee said he felt “very disappointed” that voters approved adding the “Marriage Amendment” to the state constitution.
This amendment both defines marriage “as between one man and one woman” and forbids the state from recognizing “a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals.” Pending certification by the State Elections Board, the amendment will become part of the state constitution next month.
Legislative agenda
“Without taking a position” on homosexual marriage as such, Lee said that the amendment “incorporates into the constitution a right-wing wedge issue social agenda.”
It also opens the door to much litigation, as courts will have to decide how the amendment applies to such issues as domestic partner benefits or heterosexual common law marriage, Lee said.
Others expressed even more disappointment in the amendment’s approval. Steven H. Morrison, executive director of the Madison Jewish Community Council, called the voters’ decision “a tragedy for the principle of constitutionalism.”
“For the first time in our history as a state,” Wisconsin has “used its constitution to take away the rights of people,” Morrison said.
Moreover, Morrison said, Wisconsin, in its constitution and culture, has had a tradition “of stricter separation of religion and state than the federal. That was clearly breached, if not destroyed,” by the Marriage Amendment.
The MJCC and the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations both publicly opposed approval of the Marriage Amendment. “We understand what a constitution means to the ability of Jews to succeed, and have a unique understanding of what separation of religion and state means,” Morrison said.
Paula Simon, executive director of the Milwaukee council, also feels “very disappointed” in the approval of the amendment, which is “something that cannot be easily undone.”
The Chronicle asked Simon about the seeming paradox that Wisconsin’s electorate seems open-minded and accepting enough to send two liberal Jews to represent it in the U.S. Senate — indeed, even to re-elect one of them, Herb Kohl (D), by a whopping 67 percent of the vote Tuesday — and yet approve the Marriage Amendment which could be considered an attack on the state’s homosexuals.
“Unfortunately, the attitudes toward homosexuality in the state have not had the sort of progressive response that people might have” about religion, said Simon. “Perhaps it is easier to overlook or set aside religion.”
On the other hand, Jewish observers say that the state electoral results — including the re-election of Gov. Jim Doyle (D), the Democratic control of the State Senate and the narrowing of the Republican control of the State Assembly — could be good news for the state’s Jewish community.
Barbara Beckert, assistant director of the MJCCR, said that “health care issues are a top priority, particularly for Jewish agencies” in the state. “It is likely” that Doyle’s proposals for long-term care reform will receive “added support” from the legislature.
Beckert also said that the state’s Family Care program, which “is important for Jewish seniors and Jewish agencies,” could be expanded to include Ozaukee County, where Jewish older adults could benefit from it.
And Michael Blumenfeld, executive director of the Wisconsin Jewish Conference, said some measures opposed by the Jewish community will likely not arise in the coming legislature.
These include the death penalty. State Jewish groups and a number of rabbis publicly opposed the advisory referendum on bringing back the death penalty to Wisconsin. Voters approved the item by about 54 percent.
However, the Democratic-controlled Senate is not likely to approve such legislation, and Doyle has announced his opposition to it, so “it will not likely be considered this legislative session,” said Blumenfeld.
But the campaigning process should provide some lessons for the Jewish community both in Wisconsin and nationally, according to Lee. The record amounts of money spent on campaigns shows, for example, why campaign finance reform “should be a Jewish issue.”
“In the long run, it is in our best interest to have campaigns decided not by who spends the most money,” said Lee.
Lee also said the referenda should make Wisconsin Jews wonder whether they want their state to become “more like California” in deciding more issues by referenda and marginalizing the state legislature.
“That is not in our best interest,” Lee said.
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