The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Editorials

May 22, 2011

Our View: Misplaced legislative priorities

The Free Press

— During the infamous Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954, a famous rebuke was leveled against Sen. Joe McCarthy who was attempting to assassinate the character of a defenseless “lad” within the Army’s legal team. When McCarthy accused attorney Joseph Welch of having a “subversive” in Welch’s office, the attorney responded, “Until this moment, senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness... Have you left no sense of decency?”

 The defense came when it was clear the powerful McCarthy was about to crush the career and the future of a defenseless young lawyer. And the nation awoke.

Fast forward to today and the budget battle in Minnesota. Amid all the jockeying for influence, with well-heeled lobbyists pressuring lawmakers daily, it’s often those who are the most vulnerable, who have little political power and influence, who get forgotten. It’s all about winning the game rather than what you’re actually trying to win. And for whom.

Witness the budget for the mentally ill that was limping along in the hallowed halls. While lawmakers are wringing their hands over how to build a palace for the Minnesota Vikings, the most vulnerable of our residents are being pushed to the back of the room. Estimates are one in five of Americans suffer from some form of mental illness. Only recently did the federal law mandate that insurance companies treat mental illness coverage equitably. And even that provision has loopholes.

In Minnesota in 2007, after years of pushing for reforms, a bipartisan effort in the Legislature finally adopting a model benefit to decrease disparities and enable better services.

We were making headway but arguably at a slow pace. Mental illness in even its most common form of depression is not talked about. Hence, it gets little attention. And with no attention, you receive no support.

Last year, more than $15 million was cut from the mental health system. During this session, another cut of $10 million is being proposed with the result being less than half of what was invested in the 2007 reforms.

We’ve gone backward and, alas, there is no voice like the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, who was at the vanguard in speaking up for these most vulnerable.

Instead, on Friday, there was great concern that a gay-bashing minister would even be allowed to darken the doors of sacred halls of the Legislature.

Where do we think people who need treatment but cannot afford it are going to go? There is no public insurance option, no county dollars available to cover treatment for the uninsured. It will fall to the least able to help — the police and sheriffs departments. And they know it.

As Bob Collins of Minnesota Public Radio observed during the session Friday, “the Capitol Hill is one half-square mile surrounded by reality.”

Our legislators were not elected to represent their parties; they were elected to represent the people and especially those who have the least ability to defend themselves.

What is happening during this last budget battle is shameful as lawmakers are more intent on not “giving in” and losing the game.

Meanwhile, organizations such as the Minnesota branch of National Alliance on Mental Illness, which has fought so hard to get what little attention they can, now is wondering who there speaks for them.

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