Minnesota Agency Director Dismantles Services for the

Minnesota Agency Director Dismantles Services for the

The Braille Monitor

October 2002

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Minnesota

Agency Director Dismantles Services for the Blind:The Federation Strikes Back

by Joyce Scanlan

From the Editor: In

late July word spread that the funding battle for services to the blind being

fought in almost every state across the country had flared up into a hot fight

in Minnesota. Joyce Scanlan, president of the National Federation of the Blind

of Minnesota and first vice president of the NFB, describes what happened and

what led up to the current conflict. Nothing is yet resolved, but everyone knows

that the NFB is now on the front line. This is what Joyce says:

Joyce

Scanlan takes her place in the picket line along University Avenue.

Minnesota Federationists

returned from the 2002 National Convention in Louisville with more than the

usual excitement about upholding our rights as first-class citizens and a superabundance

of energy to stand firm against any obstacle--human or otherwise--posing a barrier

to our progress. Little did we know how soon we would be called upon to engage

in yet another struggle to preserve valued services provided by State Services

for the Blind (SSB), our state rehabilitation agency serving the blind.

Within hours of returning

to Minnesota at the end of the Convention, we began to hear of further staff

and service cuts at SSB. The previous two years had been filled with staff and

service reorganizations and cuts, reductions in services to the senior blind,

and a steady build-up in administrative personnel at SSB; an announcement in

June had already revealed that services to children at the agency would be ended.

But the big news greeting us after the Convention was that thirteen staff would

be laid off, five additional positions would be held vacant, and the store operated

by SSB to sell white canes, Braille paper, and other products not readily available

to blind people in an ordinary shopping mall would be closed as of August 1,

2002.

We learned that the Department

of Economic Security (DES), in which SSB is housed, had received a budget cut

of $913,000, and SSB had been forced to take $416,000 of that amount--more than

45 percent of the total. Although our anger and disappointment had been rising

over a period of two years, these most recent changes at SSB went much too far.

Federationists had to take action. Kind words, gentle complaints, and friendly

suggestions had accomplished nothing. We Federationists had reached our limit,

so we launched serious plans to address these most recent unfair actions of

SSB administrators.

To understand more fully

why Minnesota Federationists finally reached the breaking point, here is some

background information: for many years Federationists had worked in partnership

with the state rehabilitation agency serving blind people. Certainly our relationship

varied with the particular SSB administrator; nevertheless, we had always come

together whenever threats to services or funding surfaced, and consumers had

been a welcome voice in shaping programs offered by SSB. In 1995, when one-stops

became the rage in the Department of Economic Security, Richard Davis, the assistant

commissioner of SSB, began to feel increased pressure from DES to become a part

of the one-stops. The message seemed to be that SSB should give up its program

autonomy and share its meager financial resources with the larger department.

Federationists

picket Minnesota State Services for the Blind carrying their signs and

shouting slogans.

Then in 1998 the Workforce

Investment Act became law and brought state rehabilitation programs into the

one-stop system more formally. Despite efforts of SSB officials to seek additional

funding from the legislature over a period of several sessions, SSB had gone

without an increase in its baseline budget for about ten years and was forced

to move to an order of selection in December of 1998. This crisis finally brought

attention to the financial problem, and in the governor's budget presented to

the 1999 legislative session, additional funding for SSB was finally included.

Federationists put great effort into supporting the SSB budget with extensive

lobbying and testimony at hearings until the final vote, which resulted in an

increase to SSB's biennial budget of $3,370,000, including $1,400,000 for the

Communication Center, the SSB unit where textbooks are transcribed, the Radio

Reading Service is operated, and several other library services are provided.

We were proud of this success and looked forward to brighter days ahead.

As everyone in the country

knows, in the general election of November 1998, Minnesota elected a new governor,

Jesse Ventura. This also meant a new DES commissioner, Earl Wilson. Both Ventura

and Wilson came from navy backgrounds. With Wilson as DES commissioner, Mr.

Davis came under more and more pressure to reorganize and redesign within the

department. An increased hostility toward consumers was immediately obvious,

and an atmosphere of secrecy overtook the department. By January of 2000, Mr.

Davis could take no more, and he resigned as assistant commissioner of SSB.

This brought Bonnie Elsey

into the picture as head of SSB. She came from a career in the job service.

Her jobs had been project-oriented, and she had established a reputation for

ordering frequent reorganizing. Initially we hoped that Ms. Elsey might work

out, because she made positive statements like "We want to increase the

number of jobs for blind people," and "We want to see more blind people

placed in jobs." Who would disagree with such statements? However, it soon

became clear that the deed did not follow the word, and many discrepancies arose

between the two.

In fact, Ms. Elsey has

become known as a first-rate public relations person; she can present a most

exciting report to her council, while failing to reveal all the dismantled and

dumbed-down services, lowered expectations for customers, and unhappy staff

created by her arrogant management decisions. She had never worked with blind

people prior to coming to SSB, nor has she demonstrated any inclination to learn

how to do so from her first day to the present. She hired consultants who also

knew nothing about blindness to "help" her run the agency. Like her

superiors, DES Commissioner Wilson and his deputy and associate deputy, Ms.

Elsey is not comfortable around blind people, and she does not cooperate with

consumer organizations. She is not at all subtle in her efforts to discount

anything promoted by the National Federation of the Blind. In fact, she does

not even work with her rehab council, appointed by the governor, though they

were carefully selected and do not make waves.

Only the Federation raises

concerns about Ms. Elsey's management style and treatment of blind people. Because

of our public statements and newsletter articles regarding her management of

SSB, Ms. Elsey decided in 2001 that she would never again meet with the elected

president of the Federation's state affiliate. Yet she is a publicly-appointed

official and should certainly be accountable to the public. Such arrogance is

not usually tolerated for very long.

DES Commissioner Earl Wilson

and his subordinates, including Ms. Elsey, adhere to a philosophy contrary to

that of the National Federation of the Blind and all other national organizations

dealing with blindness. They do not support the establishment of separate agencies

to serve the blind population. We became aware of this difference when we received

a letter dated August 31, 2000, from the DES commissioner in which he stated

his views, albeit in a rather convoluted style. His letter contains the following

opening sentences: "There are two serious threats to the continuous improvement

of services to individuals with disabilities and workforce development in general.

First, Congress, and to some degree state legislatures, have declared victory

and do not see the need to sustain program funding, and secondly, categorical

programs needlessly drain even more resources by operating redundant administrative

systems, at the expense of service to the customer in the interest of preserving

autonomy."

Minnesota statute establishes

SSB as a separate unit within DES with its own budget, separate from general

rehab, and the commissioner obviously disagrees with the law. That may be the

root of the problem. In addition, as a navy man the commissioner is used to

issuing uncontested orders, and the vocal Federation steadily interferes with

the smooth implementation of his orders.

As anyone can see, it has

been a stormy two years for everyone. Countless changes have come about at SSB.

Counselors and other staff call the Federation and ask, "When is the Federation

going to do something about this?" The fact is that we have been trying

very hard to preserve relevant and meaningful services, which once were the

trademark of SSB, but to little avail. Commissioner Wilson has long since ceased

appearing at legislative hearings; Ms. Elsey has no qualms about speaking contrary

to the truth; she claims success while services to blind people steadily deteriorate

and funding rapidly disappears. She is absolutely impervious to anything not

consistent with her personal plan, and anyone who attempts to be heard is met

with a stone wall.

These are shrewd people

without ethics and without conscience. Ms. Elsey is interested only in counting

dollars, not in providing services. Some would refer to individuals with this

quality as bean counters. She is expert at finding ways to shift funds to her

favorite programs. Under her management administrative structure has expanded

while services have been cut back. She has built up a bureaucratic empire. All

this is why Federationists concluded that the time had come for concerted action.

Our goal was to draw public

attention to the unfairness of SSB's budget cuts and the resulting effects on

much-needed services to blind citizens. On August 1, the first day the Store

was to be closed, the Federation decided to hold a picket, rally, and press

conference in front of SSB's building at 2200 University Avenue West in St.

Paul. Our march was scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. and continue until 4:30

p.m., when the SSB staff left the building. At 5:30 p.m. we planned to enter

the building to attend the meeting of the Rehab Council on Blindness.

We set up committees to

prepare chants and slogans, to build a symbol to point out our specific concerns

with SSB, to prepare press materials, and to contact Federationists to guarantee

the presence of a good crowd. In true Federation style our troops rose to the

occasion with all due eagerness. Everyone was truly ready to engage in the battle.

Clearly we had all had enough of the stonewalling, the unfairness, the rude

treatment, and the loss of services everyone had worked so hard to create. Everyone

responded with old-fashioned NAC-tracking spirit (toughness and creativity developed

during the seventies and eighties during our annual pickets of National Accreditation

Council gatherings). Many took the day off work; some could be available for

only part of the day; the few who were unable to come at all volunteered to

help in other ways: calling other members, making media contacts, assembling

picket signs, helping with transportation so our folks could get to the rally

on time. Federationists gathered from far and near. We had important work for

everyone.

In our symbol we chose

to emphasize the way blind people are overpowered by the DES bureaucracy. A

large black box labeled in white lettering on all sides represented the Department

of Economic Security. A doll dressed in professional clothing sat on the top

of the box. Protruding from under the box on all four sides were hands, legs,

and white canes, representing the blind people who had been stifled and crushed

by the DES system. We placed the box in a conspicuous location to serve throughout

the day as a graphic reminder of our struggles.

We carefully wrote press

materials and faxed a news release late Wednesday afternoon, July 31, and early

Thursday morning, August 1. We then made follow-up calls to learn who would

be attending the press conference. Here is the Federation's news release identifying

the major problems from our perspective:

National Federation of

the Blind of Minnesota

100 East Twenty-second

Street, Minneapolis, MN 55404

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Joyce Scanlan

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

Telephone 612-872-9363

Blind

Children Lose Services and Blind Lose Their Store as Economic Security Axes

Services for the Blind.

A Demonstration and News

Conference Planned for 11 a.m. Thursday August 1 at State Services for the Blind

in St. Paul

Twin Cities--Blind

children in Minnesota will go without services, and blind people will no longer

be able to buy essential items as the Minnesota Department of Economic Security

(DES) targets the blind with nearly a half million dollars in budget cuts. A

demonstration and news conference will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, August

1, at State Services for the Blind, at 2200 University Avenue West in St. Paul

(just off Vandalia and University).

According to Bonnie Elsey,

DES assistant commissioner for Services for the Blind, the cuts resulted from

a $913,000 budget reduction by DES, of which $416,000 is targeted at State Services

for the Blind (SSB). "This is grossly unfair," said Joyce Scanlan,

President of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. "State

Services for the Blind has only 5 percent of the DES budget, but it took almost

50 percent of the cuts. DES is balancing its budget on the backs of the blind!

They expect us to take the brunt of these cuts, while blind children go without

services and the rest of us have to search the country for white canes and Braille

watches."

Ms. Scanlan, who is blind,

cites the $15 million budget of SSB, compared with the $300 million budget of

DES. "We're being disproportionately targeted for cuts that have destroyed

entire programs which serve the 40,000 blind citizens of Minnesota," she

said. "Chapter 220 of the 2002 Session Law (the budget reduction bill)

directs them to cut administrative costs rather than programs and services.

Bonnie Elsey kept all her administrators and cut service positions instead.

It also directs them to distribute the cuts across the agency without a disproportionate

reduction from a single program. Instead Bonnie let SSB take almost half the

cuts. How can anyone trust these people? They think they're above the law!"

Ms. Scanlan said the program

and service cuts, accompanied by an administrative buildup, began when Ms. Elsey,

SSB's current assistant commissioner, came on board in February 2000. Some of

the service cuts during Ms. Elsey's administration included:

°Cutting staff and

offices in Greater Minnesota; in St. Cloud, five positions were reduced to only

one.

°Eliminating SSB's

three child services counselors and its child services funding.

°Discontinuing a statewide

program that taught basic living skills to blind senior citizens.

°Closing the Store,

the only place in the state where blind people could purchase white canes, Braille

watches, and other items essential to living independently.

°Eliminating positions

in SSB's Communication Center, which tapes and Brailles books for the blind.

"Bonnie and her boss,

Commissioner Earl Wilson, are interested in workforce development only,"

said Scanlan. "Jobs are important, but so are services to children and

seniors. Since Bonnie arrived, we have seen a pattern of eliminating programs

that don't provide jobs, devaluing comprehensive blindness skills training,

and ignoring consumer organizations of the blind. We have told her time and

time again how valuable these programs and services are, but does she listen

to us? No!"

"The issues and needs

of the blind are not going away," Scanlan concluded. "The state's

decision not to provide services does not mean blind people will disappear or

there won't be any more blindness. This isn't a choice, like buying gasoline

or going to a sporting event. This is our everyday life, and we need services."

Note: The demonstration

at SSB will occur from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, August 1, with a rally

and press conference at 11 a.m. with speakers to address the media. Blind consumers

of SSB services will also be available for comment.

The National Federation

of the Blind of Minnesota is the state's oldest and largest organization of

blind persons. It is the voice of blind people speaking for themselves.

The entire day went very

smoothly. Early in the morning rain fell, and we worried about our prospects

for fair weather. However, Mother Nature was on our side, and the rain stopped

exactly at ten in the morning, just as we were lining up to begin the march.

We had wonderful signs with slogans visible to all vehicles passing by. Many

honked their horns in support of our efforts. We had songs to sing--mostly for

our own benefit, because the traffic was so loud it drowned out the words. But

a rousing song is good for a Federationist's soul. We revised words to the tune

of "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall." Our rendition went like

this:

Ninety-nine dollars for

serving the blind,

But Earl (Wilson) had different

ideas;

He took one down and passed

it around;

Ninety-eight dollars for

serving the blind.

And on and on until there

were no dollars for serving the blind. The song was done from beginning to end

at least twice during the day. We were assisted at staying together by a bullhorn,

which amplified the sound well enough for us to hear a strong lead singer. Here

are a few other songs we enjoyed during our march:

BONNIE

LIES

(to the tune of "My

Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean")

Oh, Bonnie lies over the

Metro,

Oh, Bonnie lies over the

state.

It's time to say good-bye

to Bonnie.

Let's dump her before it's

too late.

Bring back, bring back

The services blind people

need.

Bring back, bring back

The services blind people

need.

(Repeat)

SAY GOODBYE

(to the tune of the Mickey

Mouse Club theme song)

B-o-n, n-i-e, E-l-s-e-y!

Who's the one that closed

the Store the last day of July?

B-o-n, n-i-e, E-l-s-e-y!

Say good-bye, (Say good-bye!)

Say good-bye, (Say good-bye!)

Forever let us hold our

signs up high, (high! high! high! high!)

Come along and join the

song and help us say good-bye to

B-o-n, n-i-e, E-l-s-e-y!

(Repeat)

At 11:00 a.m. the press

conference began. Presentations were made by Joyce Scanlan, who outlined the

purpose of the rally and march; Jennifer Dunnam, who spoke of the importance

in her life of services provided by a rehab counselor when she was a small child;

Steve Jacobson, the parent of two small blind children; and Michael Brands,

who spoke eloquently of the injustice of the treatment blind people were experiencing

at the hands of SSB. George Watson, an eighty-six-year-old retired college professor,

was available for interviews as well. He had participated in the program for

older blind people, which Ms. Elsey had abolished. The march was resumed as

soon as the press conference ended.

Reporters kept some of

us busy with many questions following the press conference. They asked appropriate

questions and seemed genuinely interested in pursuing the story by interviewing

others involved in the problem. The most balanced and well-documented report

appeared the following morning, August 2, in the Minneapolis Star/Tribune.

Here is that article:

Cuts in Services to the

Blind Are Protested

by Jean Hopfensperger

Advocates for the blind

charged Thursday that the state's Department of Economic Security is balancing

its budget on the backs of blind Minnesotans.

State Services for the

Blind, which accounts for about 5 percent of the department budget, is absorbing

45 percent of the department's budget cuts, said the National Federation of

the Blind in Minnesota. Some casualties of the cuts are a store that sells merchandise

for blind Minnesotans, the Dial-In News telephone service, and thirteen staff

positions.

"Yes, everybody has

to share the cuts," said Joyce Scanlan, president of the Federation, which

held a protest in St. Paul. "But the percentage we got is way beyond reason."

The Department of Economic

Security, like all state agencies, is implementing the budget cuts required

by the legislature this year. It must cut $913,000, and $416,000 of that will

come from services for the blind.

The department argues that,

even though it is a large agency with about a $300 million annual budget, most

of its funding is federal and is exempt from the budget cuts. Programs for the

blind was one of the few areas that could be cut, said Bonnie Elsey, an assistant

commissioner who oversees State Services for the Blind. "That's the only

place we could look at," she said. "Those were the rules."

But Rep. Dan McElroy, R‑Burnsville,

chairman of the House Jobs and Economic Development Finance Committee, which

oversees the department, said he wants to know if the department "looked

under every other rock" for possible cuts.

"I'm concerned that,

in an agency with 1,700 employees and a wide array of programs, is this an example

of protecting a bureaucracy at the expense of direct services?" he said.

"What about the fairly substantial departments for accounting, human resources,

building management, technology--how much of those functions are allocated between

state and federal funds?" he asked. "Is federal funding a reason for

what's been done or an excuse for what's been done?"

That said, McElroy said

he doesn't think the $416,000 cut to Services for the Blind is excessive, considering

that it has a $15 million budget. He also said he is not overly concerned about

the closing of the blind store, because most of those items are available in

catalogs or on the Internet, he said.

Meanwhile Senator Dick

Cohen, DFL‑St. Paul, chairman of the Senate budget division covering economic

security, said he plans to hold hearings on the cuts later this summer.

About fifty people protested

the cuts outside the offices for State Services for the Blind in St. Paul on

Thursday. They are among an estimated 40,000 Minnesotans who are blind, Scanlan

said. Some brought their guide dogs. Most held white canes. And nearly all carried

signs with slogans such as "Cut administration, not services" and

"We need service, not consultants."

The elimination of three

services counselors for young children and their parents is particularly troubling,

said Jennifer Dunnam, thirty-one, a University of Minnesota Braille transcriber.

She said her parents tell her to this day how important it was for a counselor

to come to their home when she was young and to teach them what to expect from

a blind child.

"She helped us have

a vision for what our life could be," Dunnam said.

The group had several other

complaints:

°The Federation was

not consulted or informed about the cuts, although previous administrations

did.

°The budget bill encouraged

agencies to cut administration, not services, but those who were laid off were

service providers.

°The store for blind

people, which offers some items not available elsewhere in Minnesota, was closed

July 31 with less than two weeks' notice.

Elsey said the department

had no choice. It had directed agencies not to cut any state programs that leveraged

matching funds or program money that was transferred to other community agencies,

she said. "Basically what you had left was $3.1 million of state operation

money," she said. "And State Services for the Blind had $2.3 million

[of it]."

Elsey said she is trying

to replace some of the lost services. She hopes to replace the state store with

a private vendor, and the Dial-In News program with a less expensive digital

service that doesn't use human voices. She also said she is contacting philanthropic

foundations for help.

"It's a temporary

setback, but I hope in the long run some of the services can be restored,"

she said.

Because we were busy during

the day and evening of August 1, we were not aware of all the media coverage

given to our issue. Radio and television coverage based on our press release

was carried throughout the day and evening. Photographers came to the rally

and took pictures which appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Our story

was also carried by the Associated Press.

When the day was over and

we had a chance to sit down together and compare notes about the day's events,

we were all revved up and had many stories to relate. We had been greeted by

SSB staff as they came out on breaks. We had been cheered by the passing motorists

sounding their horns. We had indeed brought the problems we were enduring under

the current SSB administration to the public's attention. Our message had sounded

the alert, which continued until August 19 when a legislative hearing took place,

and the unfairness of SSB's cuts became the theme of a three-hour hearing. DES

administrators admitted at the hearing that they had not even discussed with

the governor's office the harmful effect the budget cuts would have on SSB so

that some other arrangements might be made. We pointed out that the DES decision

makers had also not come to the Federation to allow us to provide help. Previous

SSB officials would have come to us for support. The concern regarding SSB's

management and structure has been the topic of extensive discussion throughout

the state ever since our August 1 rally.

Most of all we knew that

on August 1 we had collectively acted to make a difference on behalf of our

blind brothers and sisters. We had respectfully raised our voices in opposition

to an oppressive administration which had shown us no respect whatsoever. We

had captured public attention for an issue which will be important to blind

citizens as we enter the upcoming political campaigns. Although the battle is

far from over, we are sure that we will ultimately prevail, for we will remain

steadfast and fight until we do win. Federationists know how to win, and we

now know we have the broad support throughout the state that will ensure our

final victory.

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