4000 +

A good round number 4000. Could be anything. It could be the number of new cars sold this month or the number of jobs created by a new economic development program. How about the number of people graduating from some local universities or colleges. Yes it could be anything. But here's what it is, something Americans don't really think about or discuss too often. 4000 + is the number of people killed by drones since the US started using them in our current battles in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I wasn't aware of the number myself until I heard it reported on the news the other day. That 4000 + includes people our government is fighting as well as many innocent bystanders. Our government's policy on drones has to be dissected and discussed. In the end, there needs to be transparency in the policy that's followed. Right now, that's not the case. A very small group of civilians and military leaders sit in rooms daily and decide who will be attacked by drones. Who will be killed? It's a very different kind of war. Some would argue that it is much more civil and much more humane since guilty (?) parties are identified and pinpointed with accuracy.

With that targeting and accuracy, real or imagined, comes greater responsibility and accountability. Mistakes can be costly in more ways then one.

Yes mistakes can be costly and we can easily become what we hate and fight against. Mistakes can be costly and we can create many more people who hate us and what we seem to stand for.

Although the number can represent many things, it represents 4000 + people killed with new technology. I'm just beginning to get my head around this and I don't like it much. Honestly, it won't be long before more countries and powers begin to use this new technology. I suspect we won't think much of that.

Letter From Birmingham City Jail - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, April 16, 2013 is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s writing of his critically important "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail". It was written in 1963 as King sat in jail and solitary confinement, angry and struggling with establishment clergy who were questioning his involvement not only in civil disobedience but his involvement in social justice and the civil rights movement itself. An angry young man, an outside agitator, a black man who didn't really know his place were just some of the things his fellow clergy were calling him. They were questioning his actions and his leadership.

Struggles about nonviolence and social justice are always intensified when we face and see violence all around us. When we hear people spewing hatred for things and people they usually don't understand. It seems appropriate to take some time to reflect on Dr. King's letter of 50 years ago where he discusses violence and nonviolence, justice and injustice as well as people's attitudes about right and wrong.

I, along with other friends over the years, have found myself called an "outside agitator" and worse. Sometimes the name calling is done to embarrass. Sometimes it is done to discourage people from listening to what you have to say. In the worst cases it is done out of pure hatred for an individual and his or her ideas.

We are living in a time of more hatred and more name calling. It may be about gun violence and trying to control it. It may be about immigration or other countries or political beliefs.

Yesterday a terrible tragedy took place in Boston during that city's famous Marathon. That kind of violence always leads me back to reflections on nonviolence. Click Here to see Dr. King's letter.

Governing In NYS

I'm exhausted and should probably rethink posting this entry but we'll see how it goes. The reason for the exhaustion is that I pulled an all nighter watching the NYS Senate presenting and debating Bills that make up the NYS Budget. I've never watched the process before and was only able to this time because of live streaming over the internet. It looked like, according to the counter, that there were only about 80 of us online. I've tried to think of the best words to describe what I felt watching the process. Here are a few that come to mind - surprise, shock, anger, disgust, disappointment, amazed.

I was watching particularly to see the discussion, debate and action on the proposed $90million cut to supports for people with developmental disabilities. I had high hopes that after weeks, months really, of advocacy by individuals, families and non profit organizations the legislative body would minimally understand the issues related to these cuts, why they were occurring and the consequences. Boy was I surprised on that one.

I started watching the feed at about 8:15pm and finally went to bed at about 3:30am. I remembered how in my younger days I did things like that and how easy it seemed. It's certainly gotten harder. I found my mind wondering, caught myself dosing, thinking about alcohol, sugar and potato chips. I resisted all of those and refocused many times or tried to. The process and the legislators certainly didn't help. I really began to wonder how NY actually functions on a daily basis with this legislative process in place. First there's the mystery. Language like "set aside" or "the Bill is high" that all of these folks seemed to understand. They were in session for ten minutes, then "at ease" while the Finance Committee planned a meeting to act on Budget Bills.

Finally in full session, partisan debates and votes took place on various printed Bills that no one could have read. Democrats attacking the Leadership and the Democratic Governor for anything and everything. Republicans, sponsoring and defending the Bills, the Leadership and the Democratic Governor. Votes down party lines were the norm. No one jumped ship. Every once in awhile someone would express their concern about one thing or the other in a particular Bill but then they would vote with their party.

There are also drama kings and queens in this cast of characters and honestly they should all be forced to go home and watch themselves perform as part of their punishment. Juvenile chiding, back and forth reaching for high and low ground. All of the debate is supposed to go "through the President/Chair" and everyone seems to forget that at some point.

Somewhere around 2am the Aid to Localities Bill came to the floor. This Bill included the 4.5% cut to the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities which will be implemented against private, non profit providers only vs state operations. Many Senators on both sides of the aisle spoke about how horrible these cuts were but in the end the vote on the larger Bill was 51-9 affirming and including these cuts. The debate itself showed that very few of NY's Senators even understand the rationale for these cuts. The sponsors related the cuts to a Congressional Oversight Committee report on NY's Medicaid expenditures rather then the Center on Medicare and Medicaid Services decision and argument with NYS on overcharging the Federal government for many years. Some Senators went so far as to say that the $1.1billion payback to the feds was the direct result of private providers excessive executive compensation practices and these administrative cuts needed to take place. Sadly, they were not challenged on these false allegations. These Senators seemed to be mouthing the Governor's agenda. It was sad to watch.

So this group of statesmen and women are going to let individuals with developmental disabilities, their families and the people dedicating their lives to supporting them figure out how to move forward. At one point a Senator did ask the sponsor of the Bill what would happen to people if a group home was forced to close. The response was that no one expected closures. When pressed the sponsor indicated people would be served. When pressed again about how, he indicated that he didn't know.

So I'm tired - sick and tired of people who don't know what they're doing or why they're doing it. On to the NYS Assembly. They meet tomorrow. I'm going to sleep.

Sadly, The Media Has Not Done Its Job On NYS Budget

I have a tremendous amount of respect for the news media and journalism. We depend on journalists to dig, to present two, three and as many sides as it takes to bare the truth. They are the seekers of the truth in a world that many times challenges it with misstatements and lies. We need the news media to sometimes force transparency on leaders, on government and on business. Many times they do a great job. But every once in awhile, sadly and usually at the most important times, they fail.

News and news gathering has undergone significant changes. Social media has been a part of the change as well as the competitive push to be the first with a story, facts be damned. Journalists also become comfortable with the people they cover and frankly they sometimes depend on their subjects for information about stories.

Over the past few weeks I've watched along with others how Governor Andrew Cuomo has presented his facts about the NYS Budget to the capitol press corps. Cuomo has a way of chiding, bossing, putting down and generally treating the press like school children. Subtly and not so subtly pointing out that they're foolish if they don't accept his theories and beliefs. A few continue to challenge him but very few. The problem is, what if the emperor is wrong? What if he really has no clothes? What if he's making things up at best and lying at worst? What if people get hurt from the games he plays with the press?

Let's look at what started as his budget proposal to cut $120million from voluntary agencies supporting people with developmental disabilities. As the budget has been negotiated with Legislative Leaders that number looks like it will be more like $90million but the numbers get complicated and are less of the issue then how the Governor spins his story and how the press accepts his spin.

Cuomo insists he cares about the people affected and presents these cuts as not his fault. No it's the federal government. They are asking NYS to payback $1billion that was "over billed" over many years in accordance with an agreement that NYS had with the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Reporters have all accepted Cuomo's version as far as I can tell. No one seems to have contacted CMS or any other source to verify his version. Did CMS say - these voluntary agencies were awful. Take the money from them and from them alone. We mandate that you do it that way. Did CMS ask NYS how the money was spent? The fact is, it was billed as part of a NYS Institutional rate. Do people know how the dollars flowed to NYS? Did they go to programs or did they go into NYS's General Fund?

Cuomo does the same thing when he talks about how these cuts will be targeted and how they should be absorbed by non profits. Cut administrative costs he says. Sounds great. Just what the public wants to hear. But does the press look into this a little further? Do they ask agencies what administrators do or what cuts they've sustained in the past two years? Do they understand that in these agencies administration is much more then an executive director's salary. Things like Human Resources, Quality Assurance and managers of individual residences. Do they ask the Governor if he understands what new administrative regulations he's put in place that these folks need to respond to relative to quality assurance, fire safety, incident reporting and background checks? He wants to support direct support staff. Does anyone ask - how will these agencies implement minimum wage increases while sustaining massive cuts? Does the press push back and ask how he will move forward with $600million of new revenue from the feds to close remaining institutions in NYS while he cuts the legs out from underneath the organizations that in one breath are called administrative hogs and in the next are called partners?

When vulnerable people are at risk, doesn't the press have some responsibility to dig into statements that are being made for their (the press's) benefit or to dig into how priorities are decided - roads, tax relief, a luxury suite at a football stadium, tax credits to move talk shows to NY versus people needing essential and long term support.

The media told the stories of abuse and administrative waste, and allegations of fraud that helped to create this environment without much push back and the Governor has now used the media's stories to his benefit. The people caught in the middle deserve much better questioning of every leader in NYS - executive, administrative and legislative. In addition, the media should begin asking questions about the legality of these cuts on supports for a protected class of individuals. The media can and has done the right thing in the past. We do count on them to do it again.

Andrew Cuomo Undoing Years of Progress!

It's a shame really. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York is undoing years of progress for citizens with developmental disabilities. In the process, he's breaking promises made to these people, their families and providers who until now have been partners in building one of the largest systems of independent community support in the country. Like any large system it has had it's problems over the years but look at the alternative. Institutional care, custodial care that has a lurid history exemplified by Willowbrook. What's ironic and sad is that some of the promises he's breaking were made by his father, Mario Cuomo when he was Governor of New York State.

Cuomo and his team at the Division of Budget and the NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities have shown their true colors. They are certainly not progressives or advocates for one of the most vulnerable populations in NYS. They will tell you there just isn't an alternative. They will tell you their commitment to no new taxes or no tax increases is something we should all be proud of. They will tell you that the federal government is really to blame because it is disallowing a rate structure that was previously approved for many, many years. They won't tell you that NYS designed the rate structure and the over payments went into NYS's general fund.

Instead, they will sit back and defend a cut of 6% to voluntary, non profit agencies that assist the state in supporting 120,000 people with developmental disabilities in communities across NYS. Imagine being told that within 30 days you need to reduce your budget by 6%. They won't tell you that the agencies they're cutting are referred to as voluntary because they are doing this work voluntarily vs the mandate that NYS has from both legislation and the courts. They also won't tell you that they pay these voluntary agencies almost 50% less then the state spends itself to provide the same service. They won't tell you that they are dismantling a system that has been built on relationships with families and people with disabilities and good work, and that the system they're promoting is based on numbers and slots. They won't tell you a lot of things.

But the worst thing is, there is a meanness, and cold, cruel attitude to these cuts and to the Governor's attitude. This is pretty typical of this Governor. He has an edge to his response to questions and seems to want to present a "so what" attitude to anyone who questions or raises concerns about his actions or positions. He scares advocates and providers. He had his staff in the last week publicly call out and rebuke a state employee who spoke to the press. He is far from transparent. So now he travels to Florida to fundraise for his re-election or perhaps his election. The actions he's taking relative to people with developmental disabilities just go to show once more that he's no Hillary Clinton.

He uses an old trick when balancing the state budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people. He turns it around and tries to make it everyone else's job to find the money to support these people. "Where else should I cut?" he asks. That's your job Governor. You were elected to govern and to lead. Continue to travel across the state and handout your economic development grants. Fund museums and manufacturing plants and all of the things that will get you some votes.

I don't think the Governor really thought out these cuts and the impact they will have on the non-profit sector. I don't think there was a realization that some programs will in fact close and that many jobs will be lost. I don't think there was any thought given to how this will, in fact, slow down the closure of the remaining institutions in NYS. I also don't think there was any thought given to the relationship between providers and the state. People have struggled to develop a partnership over many years. You don't treat true partners this way.

So advocates be prepared to stand up to this Governor and his people. Be prepared for the cavalier glibness. The reality of advocacy is that you'll be pushed back, you'll be intimidated. As you get pushed remember this quote from Fredrick Douglas in 1857 -
 “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.”