The Wisconsin Jewish Conference on Sunday reaffirmed its opposition to the idea of reviving the death penalty in the state and put itself on record as opposing the coming advisory referendum on the subject.
“We always have had a position against the death penalty,” said Michael Blumenfeld of Madison, executive director of the organization. “Now that we have a specific vote coming up in November, we wanted to be clear that we are opposed to the referendum as well.”
The representatives of the six communities attending the board meeting, held at Temple B’nai Israel in Oshkosh, also evaluated the past session of the state legislature, whose last floor period ended on May 31, for its actions on issues of statewide Jewish community concern.
“I think the consensus was that it went fairly well,” said Blumenfeld. “It is definitely a mixed bag.”
Blumenfeld said the WJC sees the defeat of the proposed Taxpayer Bill of Rights amendment to the state constitution as “a major victory.”
He said this was an important Jewish community issue partly because the bill would have put in jeopardy government programs that “members of the Jewish community rely on” and that “address the needs of the most vulnerable among us.”
Moreover, “the victory really speaks to probably one of the most diverse and largest coalitions that we’ve ever been part of,” he said. That coalition included local government bodies, school boards, faith community groups, arts groups and others, he said.
However, the legislature defeated efforts to enact a law that would provide parity insurance coverage for mental health, a measure the WJC has advocated for 10 years, Blumenfeld said.
Blumenfeld said that Sunday’s meeting was the first since the formation of the Darfur Action Coalition of Wisconsin, seeking to help end the civil war and genocide in that region of Sudan in Africa. The WJC joined that group, and board members discussed “ways for the Jewish community around the state to talk with members of Congress about the situation.”
The conference also discussed the Wisconsin Office of Community Faith-Based Partnerships that Gov. Jim Doyle created on June 15 and that 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.
“We’re very concerned about the proposal” because “we’re already opposed to some of these ideas” on grounds that they violate U.S. and state constitutional separation of church and state, Blumenfeld said.
The conference did not take a position because the program is new, but it will “watch it closely,” Blumenfeld said.
Blumenfeld said representatives of six of the 16 member Jewish communities attended the meeting: Appleton, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Waukesha.
The Wisconsin Jewish Conference is a statewide community relations organization established in 1987 by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
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