Since moving to Madison, WI three years ago there has been a visible rise in the number of pandhandlers on median strips in my city. I have not decided what my feelings are about this issue. I’m not a fan, obviously, but I try to have empathy and reserve judgment, because I have no idea what series of misfortunes have led to these people being in their current situation. I’m aware that some panhandlers are scammers but I don’t think the majority are. I’m inclined to think that the majority of people who panhandle do so because they believe they don’t have any other choice, not because they woke up one morning and decided “I’m going to start being a leech on society!”

Recently my city passed an ordinance prohibiting this activity under the premise that it endangers drivers, which I find dubious. There have been no reported accidents due to panhandling.

Yesterday I received this political advertisement from some guy named Steve Fitzsimmons in the mail. On the front it features a picture of a panhandler (taken locally) and the message “Incumbent Ald. Cheeks voted to allow young, able bodied scammers to endanger safety on our busy streets”

Ok, wow, that’s quite a scathing accusation! How does this guy know that they’re able-bodied? and scamming? and endangering our streets? Already, I am feeling put off by this ad.

This was the message on the back. (My commentary is in brackets.)

”Mayor Paul Soglin described the danger of the median stip scammers…“The vast, vast, vast majority are not homeless. They are NOT homeless…Studies have shown theyc an make between $40,000 and $80,000 a year if you get yourself a good corner. And…no one is filing taxes.” -2–6-2017 [What studies? Where and when were the studies? And what does that have to do with safety?]

Thankfully, the majority of city alders put public safety first. But not Ald. Cheeks – even though the ordinance that passed includes an education campaign and help finding real jobs. [Again, what does that have to do with safety?]

“Panhandlers should steer clear of roads” [Mayor Soglin’s] effort to stop young drifters from distracting drivers who should be watching the road deserves strong support from the public and City Council. -Wisconsin State Journal 8–10-16

BUT ALD. CHEEKS VOTED FOR THE DRIFTERS”

I am a little grossed out by this. First, to take a potentially homeless person’s photo without their knowledge, assert without evidence that that person is a scammer, and then use their image without their consent to promote your political career, rubs me in just about all the wrong ways. Even if it’s true that the woman is a scammer (which I concede the possibility of) I’m about 9000% sure that this Fitzsimmons guy has no idea whether she is or not. I think that his statement that panhandlers “endanger safety on our busy streets” is really just contempt disguised as concern (it doesn’t help that he offers no proof for this claim, either). My gut feeling is that he finds panhandlers irritating, knows that other people also find them irritating, and is eager to leverage their irritation to make it so he doesn’t have to look at them anymore. I don’t know anything about this guy beyond his feelings about panhandlers, but I suspect that I would feel “put off” by him on a lot of other issues.

Topics: politics, homelessness, voting, panhandling, alderman