2213
(0 votes, average 0 out of 5)
Written by Louis Weisberg, Staff writer
Jan 27, 2011
Abele
Griffin
Holloway
Stone
Sullivan
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The only Republican among the five candidates vying for Gov. Scott Walker’s former job as Milwaukee County executive, state Rep. Jeff Stone has a consistently conservative and anti-gay voting record in the Legislature. During the last session of the Assembly, Stone voted against a school bullying law to help protect LGBT students from harassment and opposed a measure to allow victims of employment discrimination to seek punitive damages.
At the other end of the equality spectrum, former state Sen. Jim Sullivan has the strongest pro-LGBT record of the candidates. Sullivan believes same-sex couples have a “fundamental right” to the same legal benefits and responsibilities as heterosexual couples. He has earned the support of equality activists throughout his political career.
Sullivan and Stone will square off against each other and against philanthropist Chris Abele, independent Ieshuh Griffin and former acting Milwaukee County Executive Lee Holloway in a Feb. 15 non-partisan primary. While Holloway supported a measure to study the extension of health benefits to the same-sex partners of county workers, neither Abele nor Griffin has any public record on equality issues. Only Sullivan and Stone have substantial records.
The top two primary vote getters will advance to the April 5 general election. At stake is the remaining year and a half of Walker’s tenure in a position that oversees the county’s infrastructure, including management of the transit and park systems as well as the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex. It’s a powerful position, but one that many good-government advocates believe should be eliminated due to the way it politicizes nuts-and-bolts policy decisions.
Walker, during his eight years in the post, frequently drew criticism for politicizing the office. For example, he vetoed the measure to study the costs of extending health benefits to the same-sex partners of county workers, saying that the costs would prove too high. Since the proposal would not have enacted the benefits but simply ascertained their costs, political observers charged that Walker used the measure to shore up credibility with the anti-gay right in preparation for his gubernatorial run.
Stone said that if he’s elected county executive, he will continue to pursue Walker’s goals of reducing taxes and government spending as a way to expand economic development. “I’m concerned that if we don’t really control property taxes, we’re going to see a weakening of the economy,” Stone said.
But Stone’s critics charge that Walker’s method of reducing revenue left the county teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and his ways of reducing costs drastically hurt the county’s ability to provide essential services.
“If (Stone) says that he’s going to continue the policies of Walker … he would continue the policies of decay and neglect,” Sullivan said, adding that his approach to county government would be very different.
“I would end the downward spiral of our park system,” Sullivan said. “We need to stop the cycle of declining bus routes with increasing fares. And we need to have a mental health system that we can count on and a courthouse that we can be proud of.”
Walker’s record with Milwaukee County voters lends credence to Sullivan’s claim that residents were unhappy with the current governor’s policies. Although Walker tallied 52 percent of the vote in his gubernatorial race against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, he received only 38 percent of the vote in Milwaukee County.
“Walker’s policies were not beloved here,” Sullivan said. “For those of us who do care how the county functions, this (election) is an opportunity to lead the way forward.”
Sullivan and Stone differ nowhere more sharply than their records in the Legislature on social issues. Stone’s record includes:
He was one of only 26 members of the Assembly to vote against school safety legislation designed to help protect students from bullying.
He voted twice in favor of the amendment that banned recognition of same-sex marriage and civil unions in Wisconsin.
He opposed a bill to require school systems to teach comprehensive sex education rather than to provide abstinence-only education.
He voted against authorizing the courts to order the payment of compensatory and punitive damages in employment discrimination cases.
He was a secondary sponsor of a bill to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth-control prescriptions and to let doctors deny a woman a referral for an abortion if her life was endangered by her pregnancy.
Despite such votes, Stone described himself as a “moderate conservative” and said he had no “agenda on those particular issues either way.” He opposed the bullying bill because he said he believes there are already enough regulations in place to prevent the harassment of students. “I felt that it just seemed redundant,” he said.
“A lot of those issues are going to be determined at the state or national level,” Stone said. “I’m really much more focused on economic development, jobs and taxes.”
Stone said voters, not lawmakers, should decide whether same-sex couples are allowed to form legal unions. When it comes to reproductive choice, Stone said government should always be on the side of protecting life, or embryos.
With a stark contrast between Stone’s record and Sullivan’s demonstrated commitment to equality, Sullivan said he hopes to receive the backing of Milwaukee’s LGBT voters. When faced with the daunting task of collecting 2,000 signatures in a week and a half in order to get his name on the ballot, Sullivan reached out to the gay community by attending a Milwaukee Gay Guerilla Bar event at Rascal’s, 2311 N. Murray Ave.
About 40 attendees signed his nominating petition there – a good haul, Sullivan said, and hopefully a sign of more support to come.
