Saturday, March 1, 2014

"No One Cares About Crazy People"

This is from the inbox, but look for my take in the next day or three:

By now you’ve probably had your fill of the disgusting emails Scott Walker and his county staff traded with campaign staff.

The 27,000 pages released last week show Walker’s crew shamelessly blended politicking and governing, with disgusting examples of racism, sexism and anti-worker spite thrown into the toxic brew.

They also show that disdain for mentally ill people and cold-hearted political calculation drove decisions about Milwaukee County’s mental health system when Walker was county executive.

The emails paint a picture of a career politician who consistently puts his own ambition ahead of all else. And they make painfully clear that it would be foolhardy to again trust Walker with power over Milwaukee County’s troubled mental health system.

But a bill being fast-tracked in the state legislature would do just that.

That’s why we need you to speak out now and help stop this runaway train.

The bill would put control of Milwaukee County’s mental health system into the hands political appointees chosen by Walker while leaving county taxpayers financially responsible for a system they no longer control.

It’s clear the people he hires cannot be trusted. Emails from one of his top aides refer to county mental health facilities as “the loony bin” and that same top deputy claims “no one cares about crazy people.”

Meanwhile, other emails show the Walker administration was deliberately stringing along the family of a patient who had died in the county system, trying to prevent news of possible legal action in the death from breaking before the election.

AFSCME has been working to draw attention to the problems with this rush to ram a bad idea through the state legislature as lawmakers are already racing for the doors. We were there on Feb. 12 to testify at a hastily arranged public hearing on the bill.  And we shared our concerns in a letter to the editor published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Feb. 16.

And as news of the ugly truth revealed in the Walker aide’s emails was breaking, we connected the dots to show how Walker’s documented disregard for the welfare of patients made him ill-suited to again be trusted with the fate of our county’s vulnerable citizens.

Shortly after our news release on the topic, the Journal Sentinel covered the story.

Despite this ugly picture of Walker’s contempt for mentally ill citizens being made clear for all to see – some legislators are still eager to once again give him power over our county system.

Please contact your legislators today and ask them to do all they can to stop this deeply flawed plan.

This system has been mismanaged, underfunded and politicized for too long. Real reform is needed. But putting it back in the hands of somebody who spent years mismanaging and politicizing the system can in no way be called reform.

In light of what we now know, returning oversight of this system to Walker would be malfeasance of the highest order.

Please contact your legislator today and tell them that the reform we need will not happen if we again entrust the lives of mentally ill citizens to a leader who has shown he doesn’t care about them.

Solidarity!

6 comments:

  1. This is one thing that must be mentioned over and over in the media. It is irresponsible to allow Walker control over a group of people he disparaged and purposely kept in harms way to avoid political repurcussions. Why would we allow a sociopath to be in charge of a mental health system??? Please help those in need avoid the wrath of Walker and his ilk. It makes me livid that Walker cares about a fetus but once the kid is born all bets are off - especially if they end up in what Walker's inner circle call a looney bin.

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    1. This is more evidence how the hatreds of Walker and his supporters so easily demonize good people. It is unconscionable how right wing Republicans turned hard working Wisconsin public school teachers into “thugs stealing from taxpayers.” What group, besides billionaires, is safe from trashing by Walker and his Republican mouthpieces?

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    2. If anyone rips on Walker or holds him accountable be prepared to be retaliated against. Walker is the no accountability administration. They steal from taxpayers, get caught and blame it on democrats. If you protest walker finds a way to violate your constitutional rights. He is the most evil man we have allowed in politics since Nixon. And he is petty - maybe because he is short. I do not know but he has Napolean complex bad.

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    3. I'd say worse than Nixon. His network has far more depth and breadth; has much more money behind it than Nixon could have dreamed of.

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    4. Good point. It is hard to fathom that as goofy as Walker looks - he looks harmless - that he is one if the must ruthless amoral idiots in politics. And that he rules with an iron fist. I just cannot wait until it finally catches up with him and he is destroyed.

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  2. Not to mention Walker's use of Special Olympians as human shields during one of his scant public appearance at the height of historic 2011 protests. They were just campaign chips in a cynical attempt to garner sympathy for our petty guv.

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