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Editorials

Sustaining Legal Aid for the poor



December 15, 2008



On this day in 1921, 15 visionary leaders founded the Legal Aid Society in Louisville. For these past 87 years the organization has provided free legal services in civil cases to low-income people unable to afford an attorney when their health, safety and economic security are unjustly threatened.



As we celebrate Legal Aid's 87th birthday, we celebrate the vision of those before us who saw this great need in our community and stepped forward to help. We celebrate, too, those in this community who have made it possible for Legal Aid to help thousands of people in need ? just last year we helped more than 5,000 clients. Every year, Legal Aid conducts a Justice for All Campaign that raises money to support this critical work.



Never has this annual campaign been more essential to continuing to Legal Aid's services.



I was disappointed to learn earlier this year that Legal Aid received funding cuts from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the City of Louisville and Metro United Way that reduced its operating budget by more than $235,000. Legal Aid's services have never been in higher demand. In the face of these funding cuts, contributions from the community are more important than ever.



Democracy is not only about the rights of the people; it is also about the duties of the people. Many of us have enjoyed some success in the business or professional world. But many of our brothers and sisters are accompanied all the time by trouble and anguish. I believe that those of us who are blessed and lucky have a moral obligation to help those brothers and sisters. Franklin Roosevelt once said, "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who already have much; it is whether we do enough for those who have too little."



Abraham Lincoln spoke these eternal words at Gettysburg: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." In that same speech he uttered the unforgettable phrase about our government being a "government of the people, by the people, for the people." We inherited democracy from our ancient Athenian ancestors, but after Lincoln's famous declaration, equality and justice for all became part of our definition of democracy.



The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted and ratified soon after Lincoln's death. It states that "no state shall deny to any person . . . the equal protection of the laws." Since that time, we have made significant progress in our commitment to equality and justice for all. There is still a distance to go, though, until we will have proven that the proposition that all men are created equal is reality.



Advocates for education and social services are understandably disheartened by the cutbacks in spending in those areas by our governments. I, too, am discouraged. I wouldn't attempt to make the case that legal services for the poor are more important than education or health care. The notions of equality and justice for all are, however, part of our core constitutional beliefs. I think, for that reason, our contributions to the Justice for All campaign are justified and significant to our democratic way of life.



It is up to us citizens to make a financial gift to the Legal Aid Society to support its work with low-income clients who have nowhere else to turn. Your contribution will help ensure that our laws guarantee basic rights and protections for all of us, not just those who can afford an attorney.



You may make a tax-deductible gift to Legal Aid's Justice for All Campaign by visiting their secure Web site at www.laslou.org. You may also mail a gift to Legal Aid Society at 416 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd., Louisville 40202.



KEVIN HABLE



Chairman



Legal Aid Society of Louisville



2008 Justice for All Campaign