Semi-independent agency would help state's disabled

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Subj: Semi-independent agency would help state's disabled

Date: 1/21/02 9:46:15 PM Eastern Standard Time

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From: skwjcw@... (Steve Waldron)

Opinion / Editorial

Semi-independent agency would help state's disabled

The Virginian-Pilot

© January 21, 2002

Incoming Gov. Mark Warner has handed Virginia's disabled citizens a surprise

inaugural gift.

His endorsement of legislation making the Department for Rights of

Virginians with Disabilities less beholden to the governor and the attorney

general is welcome and overdue from the executive branch.

Twice in recent years the General Assembly -- no hotbed of revolutionary

thought -- voted overwhelmingly to make the watchdog agency more independent

of the government that it is supposed to be monitoring. And twice, former

Gov. Jim Gilmore thwarted that effort.

Last year, the Senate overrode Gilmore's veto of the measure and the House

came close. ``Close,'' however, is not good enough when it comes to making

sure that vulnerable citizens have the full protection of the laws and

procedures that have been established in their behalf.

And that never will be consistently achieved as long as the governor

appoints the director of the DRVD and the same attorney general who defends

state institutions for the disabled has a role in overseeing DRVD actions.

Precious few top state officials would approve actions that would hold their

administrations up to embarrassing scrutiny.

To his credit, Gilmore made a serious stab at making the DRVD more

aggressive. But the primary structural flaw in the agency remains.

Any watchdog is going to be beholden to its master. And so long as the

DRVD's master is the governor, the agency will be only as protective of the

disabled as the governor wants. That's less than reassuring in a state where

the chief executive changes every four years.

The legislation that Warner endorses would establish an independent board,

albeit one whose members would be named by the governor and the legislature,

to hire an executive director and set policy for theagency. This is a

variation of the independent model followed by all but 10 of 56 similar

agencies nationwide thatmonitor government protections for the disabled.

A more independent structure would provide greater continuity and a less

conflicted mission. The DRVD should never have to question that its

loyalties lie with the disabled citizens of Virginia, not the politicians

who come and go through the revolving door of power.

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State Of Virginia;

Mike Savory

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