From: DAWGOregon@aol.com

To: jcunio@ocdd.org,daynamo@teleport.com,hazelett@zzz.com, tmkspp@coosnet.com,ajones@spiretech.com,tkral@oregonrehabilitation.org,joanne@pclpartnership.com,Edwardsctr@msn.com,marylee.fay@state.or.us,Mike.J.Maley@state.or.us,jessicalei@co.clackamas.or.us,sstewart@open.org,kweit@ocdd.org,pamring@worldnet.att.net,bherrin@resourceconnections.org,blynch@ocdd.org,marcie.ingledue@arcoregon.org

 

CC: sen.margaretcarter@state.or.us, sen.avelgordly@state.or.us, sen.kurtschrader@state.or.us,mtbclarion@comcast.net   

Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Subject: Stepping Up

 

8/10/05

Dear Staley Implementation Team Members,

Last night we listened to Kurt Schrader speak to the bill that won’t
 allow the State to continue its practice of using the Staley savings
 (over $29,000,000 since the beginning of brokerage services) to fund
 other state programs. He thanked “the Staley folks for ONCE AGAIN
 stepping up to the plate in light of the difficulties within the budget”.
  This would indicate that you all have given your blessing to selling out
 the waitlist ONCE AGAIN by accepting a budget that’s less than what’s
 needed to fully implement the program. Our questions are:

 1) If you insist on being called “The Advocates” for all people with
 developmental disabilities in our state, how do you reconcile this
 continued neglect of 2000 people?

 2) When did it become your job to save the state’s bacon at the expense
 of advocating for people with developmental disabilities?

 3) Exactly how many dollars were used for “stepping up” in the last
 biennium? And exactly how many dollars in budget reductions does
 “stepping up” represent in the next biennium?

 4) Lastly, where was the money saved in the last biennium used in the
 state budget?

  We are aware that the state intends to enroll300 people in the next
 year, delaying the enrollment of 700 until2007. Do you really believe
 the state will actually enroll700 people during 2007? Has the state
 shown you ANYTHING that would cause you to believe they haven’t already
 asked Jim Wrigley to re-negotiate the settlement again at some point
 during the year?

  It’s obvious to us that you ALL have personal interests in mind by
 continuing to support such an immoral, corrupt, and unethical plan.
 Condoning this practice is EXACTLY the same as being the perpetrators of
 it. In other words, it seems as though your “heroes” are in fact
 scurrilous or lame politicians, willing to cause harm to people with
 developmental disabilities while drawing their salaries to advocate for
 them. This hinges on whether or not you believe that they didn’t actually
 know about the savings and misuse of the Staley budget. Our hope is that
 we won’t read in the Oregonian during the 05-07 biennium that one more
 individual with a developmental disability who was waiting for services
 was abused, exploited, murdered, homeless, hungry or incarcerated. That
 is highly doubtful.

  Michael, Bill, Marcie, and Kathryn, please make sure we are on the real
 mailing list for the public announcement of the hearing planned for
 sometime in the fall of 2006 to speak to the Re-Resettlement of the
 Staley Agreement. People we know who are still waiting are also expecting
 to receive their letters in a timely fashion, and not buried at the
 bottom of a Clarion Bulletin.

In Service,
David and Suzanne McDonald
DAWG