League of American Workers President: On proposed reparations legislation, Senator Baldwin ‘represents radical leftist interests, and not the will of her home state’

Steve Cortes, the President of the League of American Workers (LAW), has criticized U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s sponsorship of legislation to create a reparations commission, arguing that it contradicts the will of voters in her home state. This claim is based on polling data showing that 69 percent of voters oppose the idea.

Cortes stated, “As our battleground state Wisconsin polling clearly reveals, the overwhelming majority of Wisconsin voters do not support bigoted, unjust reparation payments — for sins committed by other people decades and centuries ago.” He continued, “Only 19% of Wisconsin voters believe in race-based reparations, and yet Senator Tammy Baldwin co-sponsored legislation for a reparations commission in the US Senate.” Cortes concluded his critique by saying, “She clearly represents radical leftist interests, and not the will of her home state.”

According to a poll conducted by North Star Opinion Research and published by LAW, 69 percent of Wisconsin voters believed reparations payments from non-African American residents to African American Wisconsinites were a bad idea. The results showed Republicans and independents generally opposing reparations payments while Democrats narrowly supported the concept with a 41 to 39 percent margin.

The same poll indicated that younger voters were more likely to back the idea than older ones. However, even among this group – specifically voters aged between 18 and 34 – only 24 percent expressed support for reparations payments.

Earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin joined 20 colleagues in sponsoring U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act or S.40. According to a statement on Booker’s website, if passed, S.40 would establish a commission tasked with studying “the impact of slavery and the continuing discrimination against African-Americans” and developing recommendations on reparation proposals for descendants of slaves.

Cortes, a political advisor and commentator, has previously traded global currencies and interest rates for large international hedge funds for 25 years. He has been an on-air broadcaster for CNBC, Fox News, and CNN. Cortes founded LAW in 2022 to conduct research and develop proposals on public policies impacting American workers and the economy.