http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20107070375

Steve Gahafer, right, and Joe Phelps, center, were among the

protesters Wednesday who urged Senate Minority Leader Mitch

McConnell to support legislation to extend unemployment benefits.

(By Michael Hayman, The Courier-Journal, June 7, 2010)

July 7, 2010

McConnell urged to back extended jobless aid

By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com

Waving signs, shouting and cheering, marchers called Wednesday on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to support an extension of unemployment benefits.

“I think he needs to give up his pension and his office and try living on unemployment for three months and see how he likes it,” said Gail Helinger, 52, a laid-off factory worker who joined about 50 people in a march and rally outside the federal courthouse that was organized by the Kentucky AFL-CIO and other groups.

A different group sought divine intervention — with a prayer vigil held earlier in the day on the front steps of the courthouse at 6th Street and Broadway, where the Kentucky Republican has his Louisville office.

“We have come to pray and ask God to change our senator’s heart,” said the Rev. Charles Elliott Jr., pastor of King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church, who led the vigil of about a dozen people. “He represents us — the taxpayers make sure his salary is paid.”

Both groups want McConnell to support a move to allow the Senate to vote on continuing the extended unemployment benefits program through the end of November. Under that program, which expired last month, Kentuckians and Hoosiers are eligible for up to 99 weeks of jobless benefits.

McConnell, citing Republicans’ concern about the federal budget deficit, led a successful GOP drive last month to block Senate action on the measure.

McConnell believes Congress should “extend unemployment benefits in a fiscally responsible manner that does not add to our nation’s crushing debt,” said spokesman Robert Steurer.

The latest version of the bill would add $33 billion to the federal budget deficit.

McConnell wasn’t in Louisville Wednesday to witness either event.

But two protesters at the rally, Helinger and George Boyd, visited McConnell’s office in hopes an aide would convey their comments.

“I just plead for him to have compassion for his laid-off constituents in this state,” said Boyd, 62, who lost his job in May 2009 with an agency that helps young people find work. Boyd lost his unemployment benefits this week.

Bradley Atzinger, a field worker for McConnell, agreed to pass the comments on to his boss and assured them McConnell is “committed to passing these benefits in a fiscally responsible manner.”

“It he’s committed, he needs to hurry up,” said Helinger, who has one unemployment check left before her benefits expire.

Kentucky’s unemployment rate is 10.4 percent, according to the most recent numbers available from the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet. An extension of unemployment benefits could benefit up to roughly 125,000 people, said Lanny Brannock, a spokesman for the cabinet’s employment and training office.

Without the federal extension, about 75,000 out-of-work Kentuckians will be cut off the unemployment rolls over the next eight weeks. With an extension, about 50,000 people who have lost benefits could get them back, Brannock said.

Wednesday’s rally ended with a march to the nearby state employment office, where protesters handed out leaflets to people waiting to sign up for unemployment benefits. The leaflets urged them to call McConnell’s office in support of the extension.

Helinger said she plans to continue her one-woman protest each day at the corner of 6th and Broadway, where she sits in a folding chair asking passers-by to support extending jobless benefits.

Brenda Johnson, a former mental health worker who lost her job with a nonprofit group 16 months ago, attended Wednesday’s rally in hopes of bringing some attention to the problem. Her unemployment benefits ended this week.

“I just keep praying,” said Johnson, adding that she has signed up for food stamps and won a brief extension to prevent LG&E from cutting off her power. “I think Mitch McConnell is out of touch. It’s kind of hard.”

Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.

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Kay Tillow
Nurses Professional Organization
Louisville, KY
http://unionsforsinglepayer.org/