Advocate for the disabled says lawmakers are turning a blind eye to abuse
By Kelly Fay
After going public with a recording he says proves lawmakers are failing to investigate an agency they know is ineffective, an activist for the developmentally disabled is calling on two Assembly members to step down from their leadership positions.
During an interaction between Michael Carey and Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, the Queens Democrat explains that the Assembly leadership feels the agency overseeing the care of New York's disabled population is fraudulent, yet will not permit an investigation. Carey says the secretly taped conversation is more than enough cause for Sheldon Silver to step down from his position as Speaker of the Assembly and for Hevesi to be removed as Chair of the Assembly's Oversight and Investigations Committee.
The recording focuses on the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs — the agency launched last year to oversee reports of abuse within facilities serving the state's disabled. The initiative touted a 24-hour-a-day hotline for reporting incidents that would allow for thorough investigations, but Carey says conditions are even worse than before the center was created.
On the recording, Hevesi says lawmakers plan to start meeting with the agency in place of a full, public investigation, which Carey — whose autistic son was killed while in state care — rejects as insufficient. When Carey asks whether Silver, D-Manhattan, was unwilling to launch a full probe, Hevesi responded, "He didn't say that to me, but I know the leadership is not willing to do that."
http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-Top-Stories-c-2014-06-09-88194.113122-Advocate-for-the-disabled-says-lawmakers-are-turning-a-blind-eye-to-abuse.html
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