Wilson Hit on Welfare Reduction by Mahony : Politics: Cardinal criticizes governor’s proposals to cut benefits by 25%. San Francisco archbishop makes similar statement.

Accusing Gov. Pete Wilson of declaring “war on the poor,” the Catholic Church in California Tuesday declared its own war on the governor’s proposed ballot initiative to slash state welfare payments.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, flanked by 40 fidgety first-graders at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Los Angeles, said Wilson’s plan to reduce welfare benefits by 25% “will lead to absolute devastation” by condemning children to poverty and fueling racial tensions.

Wilson’s proposal “is an outright attempt to make poor children, families and immigrants the scapegoats for California’s growing economic problems,” Mahony said in a news conference in the school’s auditorium.

“The governor’s initiative is not a war on poverty, it is a war on the poor. It . . . cuts even larger holes in an ever-shrinking safety net.”

Mahony’s remarks were timed to coincide with a similar statement by Archbishop John R. Quinn in San Francisco.

Wilson, struggling to balance an unwieldy budget, late last year announced a series of measures, including a November ballot initiative, that would drastically cut welfare payments. Under his plans, the monthly stipend paid to poor families under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program would be cut by as much as 25%.

In addition, Wilson’s proposals would reward teen-age mothers who stay in school while penalizing those who don’t, eliminate benefit increases for women who have additional children while on welfare and reduce the amounts paid new state residents.

In announcing some of his plans, Wilson blamed part of the state’s financial crisis on immigrants and new residents who take services while not contributing to the state’s tax base.

Mahony said such notions are “very dangerous” because they pit Californians against each other and perpetuate “myths” that the poor “are somehow responsible” for their situation.

In addition to speaking out against Wilson’s proposals, the cardinal said the church will urge its members to register to vote so they can defeat the November initiative.

He also announced the formation of a “legislative network” in the church’s Office of Justice and Peace that will keep parishioners informed on public policy issues that hurt the poor.

“This measure (the ballot initiative) plays on prevailing fears and fuels racial tensions at a time when healing and reconciliation are needed most,” Mahony said.

“Now is the time when our elected officials should be proposing innovative economic programs and incentives. Instead, Gov. Wilson has singled out poor children and poor families as easy targets.”

Neither Wilson nor his spokesmen were available for comment.

The governor has previously dismissed criticism of his proposals as “partisan twaddle” and maintains he will save the state $600 million by reducing the money given poor families from $663 to $597 a month.