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Mitchell talked to
the Lincoln Daily News shortly after the Senate failed to
overturn Gov. George Ryan’s veto of funding for LDC for the coming
fiscal year, a move that seems to ensure that the 125-year-old
facility must close its doors. He said he believed shutting down LDC
has been part of the DHS plan for some time. DHS is the agency that
oversees the 11 state-operated facilities for the developmentally
disabled.
"I do think these
unelected people [in DHS] have had this mind-set for several years.
Their timing was perfect. It’s a good way to save $35 million," he
said.
"People are wondering
who is in charge. It is certainly not our elected officials. It
seems to be unelected bureaucrats [in DHS] who pursued this agenda
aggressively.
"Now 600 families in
Logan County don’t know where they are going to get their next
paycheck. That’s what makes me mad."
He said he and House
Republican Leader Lee Daniels, R-Elmhust, plan to sponsor
legislation to break up the Department of Human Services.
"It’s about time we
started looking at the Human Services bureaucracy. They have no
loyalty to their party, no loyalty to any community, no loyalty even
to the governor. The governor can only make a decision based on the
quality of information he gets from the bureaucracy. All the
governor heard day in and day out was how bad things were at
Lincoln," he said.
"The next
administration had better look to see about cleaning house. What
I’ve seen in this last year is just an absolute arrogance of power
by unelected people. That’s what gets me."
Rep. Jonathan Wright,
R-Hartsburg, another local legislator who worked to keep LDC open,
also believes DHS targeted the Lincoln facility for closure.
"I think that
decision was made 12 to 18 months ago," he said.
"We found two
problems fighting the battle. First was breaking through to Gov.
Ryan. I am not here to excuse the governor’s decision, but his
decision is only as good as the people around him. He relies heavily
on people at DHS to provide information.
"We could never break
through the inner circle to sit down with the governor and honestly
apprise him of the situation.
[to top of second column in
this article]
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"The second problem
was that we were also fighting against the Department of Public
Health, which I think was being used as an arm of DHS in its ongoing
surveys. We were always fighting Public Health using standards that
could be enforced as strictly or as leniently as they wished."
The Department of
Public Health is the agency that conducted the surveys that led to
citations of abuse and neglect against the LDC staff.
"The new incidents
[of neglect of residents] that happened last week were no
coincidence," Wright continued. These incidents led to the
governor’s final decision to close LDC.
"The incidents cited
were really nonissues. For example, one resident was unsupervised
for only three to five minutes. Another resident was unsupervised
for five to 10 minutes. That wing was not adequately staffed, and
that was a management problem."
Wright said he agreed
with Mitchell that the Department of Human Services should be broken
up. "They have over a $6 million budget. There is too much control
by just a few people. The DHS is a prime example of bureaucracy
running the state of Illinois and not elected officials running
things."
Wright also said the
whole budget process was flawed. The General Assembly voted for a
budget knowing it was not a balanced budget and that the governor
would use his line-item veto power to bring it into line.
"We allowed the
governor to decide and control where the cuts were," he said. "I was
thrilled when the LDC funding was restored, yet I voted against the
budget because I thought it was dishonest for the people who work
and live there."
Sen. Larry Bomke,
R-Springfield, said he agreed with Mitchell that DHS has had a plan
to close the Lincoln Developmental Center. He also said he thought
the latest citations of neglect were "the straw that broke the
camel’s back" in the Senate. The governor, he added, used those
incidents as an excuse to close the facility.
"He [Gov. Ryan] has
said repeatedly that this was not a budget issue. But in the budget
address he alluded to a Republican lawmaker who was standing in the
way of trying to correct this budget crisis. I believe he was
referring to me and my support of LDC," Bomke said.
"I strongly believe if the state’s fiscal
condition was better, he would have kept LDC open. I think that’s
the real reason, which is wrong for the hardworking people at LDC."
[Joan
Crabb]
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The American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and others have
sued to stop the movement of residents, and that suit must be still
be heard by the appellate court, AFSCME officials say.
Marsh said DHS has
already spoken with some family members and guardians about where
they want their loved ones placed. He said the department always
confers with family members about the best placement before they
move residents.
"We don’t just take
people and put them anywhere," he said.
He also said he was
not sure just how staff reductions will be managed.
"In an ideal
situation we would reduce staff gradually, as we reduce the census
of residents, but first we must check with the courts." There are
currently 243 residents and 494 active staff members at LDC, and 90
percent of the staff are members of AFSCME, he said.
Closing the
125-year-old facility, Logan County’s largest employer, will have a
devastating effect on the area, said Rep. Bill Mitchell of Forsyth,
who lobbied hard to save LDC.
"No other facility in
the state of Illinois has been hit as hard as Lincoln. This will
have a devastating impact on a small county such as Logan County.
"What I’m going to do
now is explore some options about what we can do with the facility.
It’s a large campus, and I’d like to see some state employment at
the campus. We owe something to Lincoln and Logan County."
"Closing LDC is going
to be a blow," Rep. Jonathan Wright, R-Hartsburg, agreed. Another
blow will come if the state decides to privatize dietary services at
its correctional centers, he added.
The House overrode
the governor’s veto of the bill that would prohibit private firms
from providing food service to prisons, but the Senate did not,
leaving the way open for the state to hire private firms. This could
cost more Logan County workers jobs, he noted.
"I’m extremely
disappointed that this occurred," said state Sen. Larry Bomke,
R-Springfield. He said 17 Senate Republicans and four Democrats
supported keeping LDC’s funding. Thirty-six votes were needed to
override the governor’s veto.
"Had the Democrats
supported it, we would have won," he said.
"However, we’ll
continue our fight. I don’t know where it goes from this point. We
have the court challenge that’s still ongoing. "
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Lincoln Mayor Beth
Davis said she was very disappointed at the Senate’s actions on both
LDC and prison food service privatization.
"I’m concerned about
the safety issues and very concerned about the loss of an additional
30 jobs within this city," she said.
"I think this is very
serious for the county," said Dick Logan, president of the Logan
County Board. "We’re going to have to do something here to get some
jobs going.
"I would like to see
an industrial park be established in some area, whether it’s north
or west, but preferably north. We can’t keep our kids here in Logan
County now."
Mark Smith, director
of economic development for Logan County, estimated that the total
impact of the loss of 550 jobs, 65 percent of them in the county,
would be around $75 million.
"If we look at the
total budget, it’s closer to $100 million. That means dollars that
are not going to be here anymore. They are not going to be here to
purchase toothpaste and aspirin, go to the movies, go out to lunch
or buy a car.
"Those dollars are
going to have to be replaced. When we commissioned the study for the
commercial park, we were looking at it being an enhancement for the
local community. We assumed 455 jobs at full build-out over a
10-year period. Now even if it could be put in effect immediately,
job for job, it would not even replace the jobs we are losing."
Bobbi Abbott,
executive director of the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce,
said ordinarily her concern would be for the impact of job losses on
local businesses.
"I’m very concerned
about the impact on our local businesses, but I also have a high
concern for the residents and staff members at LDC. When I attended
the rallies, I got to know the parents of several residents, and I
have a great deal of compassion for those people, especially for
parents in their late years who thought their loved ones were going
to have stable care for the rest of their lives. And for the workers
who, I think, have been the scapegoats for decisions made on the
state level.
"I am very
disappointed with the politics of this. I can’t believe how quickly
the legislators accepted Governor Ryan’s proposed budget cuts. I had
faith they would work throughout the summer to find a way not only
to save LDC, but to save other programs that affect the health and
welfare of the residents of our state.
"I think we can easily say this is the
dirtiest side of politics, and we will look back at 2002 and the
reign of Governor Ryan for many years and shake our heads and wonder
how we let this happen."
[Joan
Crabb]
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"The Senate
Republican caucus has joined with Governor Ryan to inflict
devastating service cuts that show a reckless indifference to prison
safety and human needs," said Henry Bayer, executive director of
AFSCME Council 31. "The cuts in Corrections will worsen working
conditions and endanger employees and inmates alike. The cuts in
services to the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled will
seriously compromise the care of some of the most vulnerable
citizens in our state.
"From the outset Ryan
has been bent on using the budgetary process to settle scores
without regard for the damage he will inflict on the people of this
state," said Bayer. "His final budget slashes funding for dozens of
important services and programs and eliminates jobs that sustain
thousands of Illinois families. This budget strikes directly at
working families and at our most vulnerable citizens — the elderly,
the disabled and our children."
The following cuts
are those that directly affect AFSCME members:
• Closure of Sheridan Correctional Center, a
medium-security facility located in La Salle (422 employees). Medium
security prisons in the state are currently operating at 161 percent
of capacity, even with Sheridan open.
• Closure of Illinois Youth Correctional at Valley View
(180 employees).
• Closure of the following work camps: Hanna City (80
employees), Paris (85 employees), Green County (75 employees).
• Closure of Lincoln Developmental Center (550
employees).
• Closure of Zeller Mental Health Center (243
employees).
• Closure of the West Chicago office of Children and
Family Services (180 employees).
• Delays in opening Rushville IYC and Thomson
Correctional Center, which will compound problems of overcrowding.
[to top of second column
in this article]
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"Governor Ryan has
already made it clear that at the end of his political career he
feels no sense of responsibility for the fate of the state," said
Bayer. "But Senate Republicans can and should be held responsible
for the damage that they’ve colluded with him to inflict. They chose
to do this even though the money was there to avoid it.
"Fifty-six million
dollars would have stopped any correctional facility closures —
that’s about another nickel on cigarettes," Bayer continued. "If
they had used the borrowing authority that they had enacted just a
week before, Lincoln Developmental Center and Zeller Mental Health
could still provide crucial services to the developmentally disabled
and mentally ill."
It’s a sad lesson in
state politics that legislators’ pork projects remained untouched,
Bayer said. "After doling out $1.5 billion in legislative pork
Governor Ryan suddenly decided to pose as a fiscal conservative. And
who suffers? Those who need services and those who provide them."
"There were a few men and women of
principle who stood with us throughout these long months to support
increased revenues and oppose cuts in vital services," Bayer said.
"But too many members of the General Assembly turned their backs on
the working people of this state. Our members won’t forget that."
[AFSCME Council 31 press release] |
