Walker And His Backers Are Clueless and Classless

On Friday, the was a "Put People First" rally at the Courthouse. The purpose was to emphasize the need to preserve services for the disabled, who are truly the most vulnerable among us.

Walker wouldn't meet with them. According to his tweet on Twitter, he was too campaigning with the Greater Milwaukee Committee. But that still doesn't explain why one of his twenty coffee-fetchers couldn't have taken the time to meet with them.

But the kicker is at the end of the column (emphasis mine):

Cindy Bentley said she was worried she might not be eligible for the expanded Family Care program and that she could lose county funding for the caregivers that help her live independently. Bentley said she had an intellectual disability.

"I need to keep my caregivers," she said. "Without them I couldn't live in my apartment and do well."

Walker said even if Bentley didn't qualify for Family Care, she would still be eligible for the same services through another county program.

Considering that this is what I do, I should know this: There is no other program that offers these services. If they do not qualify for Family Care, these people will lose their services within the year.

Cory Liebmann has more here.

But for me, the real outrage came from that Walkerophilic website, which posted this:

According to the JS, dozens rallied at the Milwaukee County Courthouse today for tax increases.

For anyone even remotely impressed – take a look at the rally put on by the Tax Payers a few weeks back.

These disabled people receive SSI checks that total less than a thousand dollars a month. Most of that is spent on room and board for their group homes. A great majority of them have only $80 per month in spending cash and that is only because state law states that they have to receive at least that much.

For 75 of these people to take the time and energy and their limited resources to get down to the courthouse is impressive. Especially since the day was cool, wet and dreary. To me, that means much more than any number of able-bodied, elitist Republicans attending a corporate-sponsored event on a nice day.

Especially when those 75 people are only asking to be allowed to live as independently as they can, while the other group was trying to prevent people from having access to health care.

Shame on Walker and his backers for such a disgraceful display of contempt for the most vulnerable among us.