Nine L.A. Religious Leaders Urge Defeat of Prop. 165

Declaring that welfare reforms proposed by Gov. Pete Wilson will punish poor children and increase hardships on single-parent households, nine Los Angeles religious leaders have called for the defeat of Proposition 165.

The stand was adopted at a meeting Wednesday of the Council of Religious Leaders of Los Angeles.

“Welfare reform may be very much needed in our country, but this is hardly the way to start off,” Los Angeles Episcopal Bishop Frederick Borsch said of the November ballot measure.

The proposal, if successful, could wind up cutting welfare grants to families by nearly 25%. “The cuts proposed would force further breakdown of families and almost certainly cause increased abuse, neglect, homelessness and health problems,” the clerics said in a joint statement.

The measure would dramatically increase the governor’s power over the state budget, forcing the Legislature to give Wilson what he wants or risk Wilson placing his own plan into law without a legislative vote.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, told the gathering: “What is kind of cynical about the governor’s approach is he’s trying to preempt the legislative process by using the poor, families with dependent children, and newly arrived immigrants as the cause of all our problems. It’s really outrageous.”

Many religious leaders are particularly troubled by one provision that would deny additional welfare payments to any children conceived while their mothers are receiving welfare. The prohibition raises concerns about abortion and family planning.

Others in the council signing the statement were Rabbi Lennard Thal, regional director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian, United Methodist Bishop Roy Sano, Presiding Bishop Lynn Brown of the 9th District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, and Bishop J. Roger Anderson of the Southern California (West) Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Also signing the declaration were the Rev. Davida Foy Crabtree, conference minister of the Southern California Conference of the United Church of Christ; Dr. John D. Wolfersberger, acting regional minister of the Disciples of Christ, and the Revs. Irven and Pattie Stern, executive ministers of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Church of the Brethren.

The measure could cut welfare grants up to 25%.