Engler Found GuiltyBy Toni
Swanger
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In a hot, crowded courtroom in Detroit, Gov. John Engler was found guilty of crimes against the women and children of Michigan. An eight-point indictment charged the governor with causing serious economic and medical harm to the state's poor women and children, as well as injuring disabled and older women. The governor was also charged with robbing women of control over reproduction and endangering their safety and dignity on the job. After brief deliberations, the jury's unanimous verdict was delivered to a cheering crowd of approximately 100 witnesses and spectators. Tried in absentia -- both Engler and Lt. Gov. Connie Binsfield were invited to the proceedings but offered no response -- and represented by a court-appointed attorney, Engler didn't stand a chance of beating the rap. But that's the way it was planned, admit organizers of this mock trial. Sponsored by an ad hoc coalition of local organizations that work with those directly affected by the cuts in the state's social services budget by the Engler administration, the trial was an attempt to focus attention on the human costs of the governor's budget-balancing axe. And a dozen witnesses did just that. Because the trial was held a week before Mother's Day, the testimony emphasized the effects the budget cuts have had on women and children, but organizers emphasized that this wasn't meant to imply that the cuts don't have an adverse effect on men too. In her opening statement, acting Defense Attorney Emily Hall reminded the court that everyone, including John Engler, has a right to a fair trial. Hoping to prove that the governor was unjustly accused and the charges were unfair, Hall, a member of the National Lawyers Guild, stressed that Engler "had no intention to harm, only to balance the budget." In Engler's defense, Hall said that the governor was merely attempting to efficiently provide state services to those who pay for them, not those who don't. Often overruled by acting Judge Marian Kramer, president of the Detroit-based National Welfare Rights Organization, Hall suggested during cross-examination that if not for the hungry and homeless, people in soup kitchens and shelters would not have jobs; that cuts in the state's civil rights offices were proof that discrimination was on the decline; that lax enforcement of workplace safety guidelines might drive women back to the safety of the home; and that the administration's anti-choice policies could have the benefit of creating more children for adoption -- much to the hooting and hissing of spectators, needless to say. But in between the courtroom comedy, more than a dozen witnesses testified to the serious consequences of the governor's cost-cutting measures. From the high school student who told about her loss of hope in making the world a better place, to the diabetic, arthritic former General Assistance recipient who was told she was ineligible for Supplemental Disability Assistance because she had "a brain," to the welfare rights activist who added conspiracy and terrorism to the list of charges against the governor, the desperate facts of life for the state's poor were presented. Darnell Dixon of the Homeless Drop-in Center in Detroit testified to the dramatic increase in the number of women and children at her center after AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) benefits were cut by an average of $30 a month per family, pushing families to 47 percent of the federal poverty level. Dixon said the center's population has doubled. When asked by the defense attorney, "But isn't it true that the governor's safety net still protects the truly needy?" Dixon snapped, "A safety net? I've heard of it, but I haven't seen it." Amatullah Abdul Qadir, an AFDC recipient and member of Westside Mothers, Michigan Up and Out of Poverty and numerous other community groups, explained how the elimination of the subsidy for AFDC families purchasing homes has caused many to lose their homes because they were unable to keep up with mortgage payments, and how other program changes resulted in less actual money for recipients even when grants were raised. Dolores Howell, president of the Oakland County Alliance for the Mentally Ill, told about a mentally ill homeless woman in her 60s who, minutes before Howell came to testify at the trial, had called her from a doughnut shop crying that she had nowhere to go, and of an 85-year-old mother taking care of her 60-year-old mentally ill child who had been forced out when a state mental hospital recently closed. Tracey Martin, chair of the Task Force on Sexual Harassment of the Michigan Chapter of the National Organization for Women, testified that the governor's elimination of the state Office of Women and Work, the only agency for sexual harassment support and information on how to seek redress, has made it much more difficult for women to proceed with discrimination and harassment suits. With occasional sympathetic outbursts from the spectators and warnings from the judge that the courtroom would be cleared, the litany continued throughout the morning. Detroit City Council President Maryann Mahaffey was one of the last witnesses to testify. She said she was "painfully aware" of the effects the governor's budget cuts have had, particularly on the city's senior citizens, because of the elimination of dental care and Medicaid benefits for many elderly people and the slashing of funds for Medicaid transportation and home-delivered meals. "We're sending people to the grave," Mahaffey said, "and having trouble coming up with the money to bury them." After the jury delivered its verdict, Judge Kramer sentenced Engler to immediately begin serving an indeterminate sentence of hard labor at one of the state's overcrowded prisons. Amid cheers from the crowd, the jury was dismissed and court was adjourned. But guerilla theater aside, was social justice served? While the event did not attract the widespread press coverage organizers had hoped, they are convinced this type of educational event is worthwhile in raising public consciousness by offering a forum for a variety of issues to be presented with a unified focus. Julie Hurwitz, a member of the Detroit Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild who acted as prosecuting attorney in Engler's mock trial, said, "One of the more valuable aspects of this kind of event is that it pulls together many of the different ways in which this administration is severely impacting on the lives of people in our state." Post-trial, Maureen Taylor, chair of the ad hoc coalition that organized the trial and a member of Michigan Up and Out of Poverty, said, "Word on the street is that people want very much to have this program go on the road, to travel with it."
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