by Ryan E. Smith, Contributing Writer 
March 1, 2011 Jewish Journal.com

Sylvia Mnuchen has spent her life fighting.

First it was cancer that attacked her skin, then her breast. More recently it has been an ailment that has kept her in a wheelchair, her feet swollen, her legs wrapped tight like a mummy.

But as a loyal Jewish Democrat and longtime advocate of social justice, she never thought she would find herself fighting Jerry Brown, a man she voted for three times for governor. Yet the 94-year-old is suddenly on the wrong side of Brown’s proposed budget cuts that would slash state spending by $12.5 billion, ripping a hole in numerous social service programs and eliminating others entirely.

Payouts for Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, would be reduced by $1.7 billion. The welfare-to-work program CalWORKs would be cut by $1.5 billion. Other programs assisting the elderly and disabled would be affected, too.

Legislators are working on a budget agreement with the governor and expect it to be ready for a vote early this month.

Brown has called it “a tough budget for tough times.” To Mnuchen and other social service advocates in the Jewish community, though, it would only make tough times tougher.

“It’s a terrible situation,” she said.   Read Full Story