In a sharp turn from his predecessor, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele announced yesterday he supports extending health care and other benefits to domestic partners of county employees.
You’ll remember that in 2009, then-County Executive Scott Walker (no fan of equality for all citizens, to be sure) vetoed a measure by the County Board that would have studied the possibility of extending domestic health partner benefits to the county workforce, and since being elected governor Walker has refused to defend the state’s domestic partnership law, enacted by Democrats and signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle, which grants similar domestic partner benefits to state employees.
“To continue offering one category of employees fewer benefits than others is unfair and makes it more difficult to attract the best possible job candidates,” Abele said.
In 2009 it was estimated extending domestic partner benefits to County employees would cost $4 million, but County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic said that figure was “cooked up by the previous administration to deny people equal rights,” so it will be interesting to see some current projections on what the cost of extending domestic partner benefits to County employees will be.
I’m glad Chris Abele came out yesterday and made a clear and unambiguous statement in favor of equality, and it’s about time Milwaukee County had a leader who supported the fundamental Constitutional principle of equality for all citizens, not just for some.
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