But when the mayor goes, Turner, a father of four whose family remains in Wisconsin, will likely leave as well. To Liz Krueger, one of the city's leading advocates for the poor, that would be good news. As future city mayoral candidates begin lining up, they tread delicately on the welfare topic. Green, like other potential mayoral candidates, wouldn't be more specific on any plans of his own for changes in welfare. Members of Turner's Wisconsin team acknowledge the intense opposition to their policies among poor people and their advocates, but they assert that their workfare philosophy has struck a chord in a nation fed up with welfare as it was.
Confusion reigns at job centers and welfare offices alike.
On a recent day in Brooklyn, grunts and shouts from a mentally disabled teenager in a wheelchair competed with the sound of wailing babies. Activists who routinely gather at City Hall to protest Giuliani's policies fault him for failing to find a realistic alternative to welfare. Anthony Coles, a senior adviser to Giuliani who is overseeing the mayor's welfare changes, is planning new ventures with the private sector that allow companies to train people on public assistance for jobs with employers such as Macy's, where workfare jobs have the potential to become permanent. Even Krueger acknowledges that welfare as it was cannot be defended. But she rejects Turner's philosophy that less is best.