Jennifer Morales Has a Dream

Milwaukee School Board member Jennifer Morales thinks quite highly of herself.

She feels a kinship with Martin Luther King, Jr.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Milwaukee Public Schools took a major step Tuesday night toward becoming the first public school district in southeastern Wisconsin to offer fringe benefits to domestic partners of employees.

The School Board's Finance Committee voted 4 to 1 to recommend a resolution proposed by board member Jennifer Morales that the board support "equal provision of employment benefits regardless of an employee's sexual orientation or family status."

...Approval by the School Board at its Nov. 30 meeting is likely. The resolution calls specifically for offering the benefits to 113 employees, most of them top officials, who are not represented by unions. But MPS administrators said that by passing the resolution, the board would all but commit itself to including domestic partner benefits in employee contracts.

...Dennis Oulahan, president of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, said benefits for partners had attracted far more support among union members than any other proposed contract change. He said the union did not want to wait until the contract expires in 2009 to add the benefits.

...About 100 people, many of them teachers, attended the meeting to show strong support for the measure. Of 22 people who spoke, only one opposed the measure.

Much of the testimony described the proposal as a matter of fairness and as a way to attract and keep employees.

Brian Babbitts, a teacher at Reagan High School, said he loved his job and that he and the man he married in Vermont would like to stay in Milwaukee, but "family comes first." The benefit provision would be an important factor in planning their future, he said.

The proposal can be summed up with three words: MORE, MORE MORE.

The board did more on Tuesday night than just vote to recommend Morales' proposal.

It voted to send a letter of condemnation to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for writing a story and headline that stated Morales stood to benefit personally from her proposal.

In other words, the board is criticizing the Journal Sentinel for reporting the truth.

Several board members criticized a story in the Journal Sentinel on Tuesday about the proposal. The story said Morales would benefit if the benefits were included in the teachers' contract because she has a committed relationship with an MPS teacher, Tina Owen. Teacher benefits include lifetime contribution to health insurance costs, while board members lose the benefit when they leave the board.

The board voted 4 to 1 to send a letter to the Journal Sentinel criticizing the story and headline for saying Morales would benefit. Board President Peter Blewett said the story "mischaracterized" the proposal and that Morales had no conflict of interest.

Morales said that when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. desegregated drinking fountains, "nobody said, 'and don't take anything for yourself.' " She said her resolution said, "Let's be fair to everyone."

Good grief.

The reach of the civil rights movement and a proposal to extend lifetime insurance benefits for domestic partners of MPS employees are in completely different leagues.

It's an insult to compare the two.

Morales is no King.

Furthermore, why is Morales pretending that this costly proposal doesn't serve her interests?

She says, "It's not about me, it's not about Tina."

Of course it is.

Would Morales get extended coverage if the proposal passed? Yes, because of her partner.

Good grief.


How is the proposal not about Morales and Tina?

The entitlement mentality at play here is stunning.

Significantly expanding the number of people covered by health insurance through MPS should concern taxpayers.

I highly doubt that the proposal will translate into improved performances by Milwaukee's public school students.