Child care scandals threaten J. Bush image DCF FL

FWD asfp:

Subject: Child-care scandals threaten Bush image
From: wexwimpy
Date: 2/23/2004 1:54 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

Child-care scandals threaten Bush image
Troubles at three state agencies that deal with children threaten to
mar Gov. Jeb Bush's legacy, and Democrats prepare to use the scandals
against him and his brother.
BY PETER WALLSTEN AND LESLEY CLARK

Jeb Bush has long flourished as Florida's Teflon governor, surviving
bitter partisan battles over his reshaping of state government with
high approval ratings and even a landslide reelection.
But swirling scandals enveloping the agencies in his administration
that are responsible for taking care of children now threaten to soil
Bush's legacy on a centerpiece of his political agenda: improving the
lives of those he has called Florida's ``most vulnerable.''
The most pointed criticism has come in recent days from Republicans
and Democrats alike, outraged over the events that led to the death in
June of a teenager in the custody of Bush's Department of Juvenile
Justice -- an occurrence that was followed by criminal charges against
two nurses, the firing of several officials and the departure on
Friday of the department's head, Secretary Bill Bankhead.
At the same time, critics continue to focus attention on the 2002
revelation that the state's massive child welfare agency, the
Department of Children & Families, lost track of a 5-year-old girl,
Rilya Wilson, who remains missing. Bush moved swiftly to clean house,
but the agency is mired in new controversies over the infusion of
religious doctrine by the governor's latest appointee to head the
department.
And Bush's Department of Education is under fire for financial abuses
in a voucher program that thrived under the governor's education
package that was passed soon after he took office.
Bush has succeeded so far in treating each controversy as an isolated
case, but Democrats are now preparing to toss them together in an
explosive election-year brew designed to weaken the governor's
popularity -- and make Florida's 27 electoral votes that much more
difficult for his brother, the president, to win in November.
GOVERNOR'S IMAGE
''He's going to be viewed as an anti-child governor,'' said state Rep.
Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat who sits on the legislative
committee investigating the case of 17-year-old Omar Paisley. The
teenager died while in the Department of Juvenile Justice's Miami
lockup after agency officials failed to treat him for appendicitis.
''In terms of how this state takes care of its children, this governor
has been an abysmal failure,'' Gelber added.
The assault on the governor mirrors efforts by national Democrats to
criticize President Bush for what they say is cutting taxes on the
rich while neglecting the needs of the poor and working-class
families.
Gov. Bush added more ammunition for those critics in Florida last
month, when he proposed a state budget that would once again cut taxes
on wealthy investors but would not significantly trim a waiting list
of tens of thousands of poor children in need of healthcare.
The governor and his aides vehemently defend him as an advocate for
children. They say that under his leadership, the state has increased
the number of insured children while lifting standards for
child-welfare workers, cutting back on the amount of time children
spend in foster care, and boosting adoption rates.
The governor's office is also quick to list his achievements: rising
reading comprehension scores for fourth-graders and improving test
scores for blacks and Hispanics under a new education system centered
on accountability and standardized testing. Bush has also pushed to
reduce waiting lists of the developmentally disabled for services,
making the issue a hallmark of his election campaigns, although a new
waiting list is considerably larger than the one Bush inherited.
GOVERNOR RESPONDS
''We've dramatically increased the number of children that have
insurance; 755,000 more children have insurance now than did five
years ago,'' the governor told The Herald on Friday. ``We've doubled
the money going to the child welfare system in the past five years.
The number of children that are in foster care -- the amount of time
that they're in foster care -- has declined. The quality of the case
workers has improved.
'Soft on kids' issues? I'm not sure what that means. But if it means
we haven't focused on kids' issues, that's completely wrong.''
Still, the recent troubles in the governor's administration are
treacherous in an election year with competitive races from the
presidency to the U.S. Senate and the state Legislature -- especially
when some of the most vocal criticism has come from Bush's own
Republican ranks.
HOUSE INQUIRY
State Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Republican, has led the charge to
investigate Paisley's death, even issuing subpoenas to force testimony
before a special House committee. One agency whistleblower who
testified last week called the Miami juvenile justice lockup where
Paisley died a ``train wreck.''
Bush's opponents will also allege a racial undercurrent in each of the
controversies -- a point that could help drive voter turnout in one of
the Democratic Party's most pivotal constituencies.
Rilya Wilson, the girl the child welfare agency lost, is black. So was
Paisley, the dead teenager. The voucher program and Bush's
testing-based education agenda have been attacked by civil rights
leaders as punishing black children.
CHOICES QUESTIONED
Critics assail the governor for appointing agency chiefs who would toe
the party line rather than fight for funding increases and other
changes.
Bankhead and Education Secretary Jim Horne were both Republican state
senators from Northeast Florida and political allies of Bush, while
Children & Families Secretary Jerry Regier was a leading Christian
conservative activist and a player in Oklahoma Republican politics
before coming to Florida in 2002.
None of those agency heads has performed ''to the level that I
personally think they should have,'' said state Sen. Frederica Wilson,
a Miami Democrat who has been an outspoken critic of Bush's
child-welfare and education agencies. ``They weren't put into place
based on qualifications, they were put into place based on whether
they would dance to the governor's music.''
Bush aides dispute the accusation, saying that each secretary brought
specific skills to the job. Bankhead was instrumental in creating the
juvenile justice agency, while Horne was active on education issues
and Regier headed an Oklahoma juvenile justice agency.
''They were all appointed because they have a wealth of experience and
background in their particular areas,'' said Jill Bratina, Bush's
spokeswoman.
Nevertheless, Bush is clearly on the defensive.
Late Friday, minutes after a Herald story about Bankhead's departure
appeared on the newspaper's website, the governor sent an e-mail to
the reporter who exposed the details of Paisley's death and wrote the
story about the agency chief's leaving.
Referring to an assertion that Paisley's death would overshadow
Bankhead's tenure, Bush called the story ``insensitive and
incorrect.''
''Bill Bankhead's legacy will be that there has been a drop in
juvenile crime and a drop in the number of juveniles being adjudicated
as adults,'' Bush wrote.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8017605.htm


Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a
member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at
http://www.aclu.org/action.

Sounds to me like it's time to replace ol' Jeb Bush. But then, the
country did "appoint" his brother as president...the man who governed
the state with the second to lowest performing public school system with
one of the highest levels or school corporal punishment. Go figure.

This is the man who bravely leads the 21st century into school reform
and refuses to protect children from physical assault by school
administrators. If only my state could sink so low!

LaVonne

Fern5827 wrote:

FWD asfp:

Subject: Child-care scandals threaten Bush image
From: wexwimpy
Date: 2/23/2004 1:54 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

Child-care scandals threaten Bush image
Troubles at three state agencies that deal with children threaten to
mar Gov. Jeb Bush's legacy, and Democrats prepare to use the scandals
against him and his brother.
BY PETER WALLSTEN AND LESLEY CLARK

Jeb Bush has long flourished as Florida's Teflon governor, surviving
bitter partisan battles over his reshaping of state government with
high approval ratings and even a landslide reelection.
But swirling scandals enveloping the agencies in his administration
that are responsible for taking care of children now threaten to soil
Bush's legacy on a centerpiece of his political agenda: improving the
lives of those he has called Florida's ``most vulnerable.''
The most pointed criticism has come in recent days from Republicans
and Democrats alike, outraged over the events that led to the death in
June of a teenager in the custody of Bush's Department of Juvenile
Justice -- an occurrence that was followed by criminal charges against
two nurses, the firing of several officials and the departure on
Friday of the department's head, Secretary Bill Bankhead.
At the same time, critics continue to focus attention on the 2002
revelation that the state's massive child welfare agency, the
Department of Children & Families, lost track of a 5-year-old girl,
Rilya Wilson, who remains missing. Bush moved swiftly to clean house,
but the agency is mired in new controversies over the infusion of
religious doctrine by the governor's latest appointee to head the
department.
And Bush's Department of Education is under fire for financial abuses
in a voucher program that thrived under the governor's education
package that was passed soon after he took office.
Bush has succeeded so far in treating each controversy as an isolated
case, but Democrats are now preparing to toss them together in an
explosive election-year brew designed to weaken the governor's
popularity -- and make Florida's 27 electoral votes that much more
difficult for his brother, the president, to win in November.
GOVERNOR'S IMAGE
''He's going to be viewed as an anti-child governor,'' said state Rep.
Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat who sits on the legislative
committee investigating the case of 17-year-old Omar Paisley. The
teenager died while in the Department of Juvenile Justice's Miami
lockup after agency officials failed to treat him for appendicitis.
''In terms of how this state takes care of its children, this governor
has been an abysmal failure,'' Gelber added.
The assault on the governor mirrors efforts by national Democrats to
criticize President Bush for what they say is cutting taxes on the
rich while neglecting the needs of the poor and working-class
families.
Gov. Bush added more ammunition for those critics in Florida last
month, when he proposed a state budget that would once again cut taxes
on wealthy investors but would not significantly trim a waiting list
of tens of thousands of poor children in need of healthcare.
The governor and his aides vehemently defend him as an advocate for
children. They say that under his leadership, the state has increased
the number of insured children while lifting standards for
child-welfare workers, cutting back on the amount of time children
spend in foster care, and boosting adoption rates.
The governor's office is also quick to list his achievements: rising
reading comprehension scores for fourth-graders and improving test
scores for blacks and Hispanics under a new education system centered
on accountability and standardized testing. Bush has also pushed to
reduce waiting lists of the developmentally disabled for services,
making the issue a hallmark of his election campaigns, although a new
waiting list is considerably larger than the one Bush inherited.
GOVERNOR RESPONDS
''We've dramatically increased the number of children that have
insurance; 755,000 more children have insurance now than did five
years ago,'' the governor told The Herald on Friday. ``We've doubled
the money going to the child welfare system in the past five years.
The number of children that are in foster care -- the amount of time
that they're in foster care -- has declined. The quality of the case
workers has improved.
'Soft on kids' issues? I'm not sure what that means. But if it means
we haven't focused on kids' issues, that's completely wrong.''
Still, the recent troubles in the governor's administration are
treacherous in an election year with competitive races from the
presidency to the U.S. Senate and the state Legislature -- especially
when some of the most vocal criticism has come from Bush's own
Republican ranks.
HOUSE INQUIRY
State Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Republican, has led the charge to
investigate Paisley's death, even issuing subpoenas to force testimony
before a special House committee. One agency whistleblower who
testified last week called the Miami juvenile justice lockup where
Paisley died a ``train wreck.''
Bush's opponents will also allege a racial undercurrent in each of the
controversies -- a point that could help drive voter turnout in one of
the Democratic Party's most pivotal constituencies.
Rilya Wilson, the girl the child welfare agency lost, is black. So was
Paisley, the dead teenager. The voucher program and Bush's
testing-based education agenda have been attacked by civil rights
leaders as punishing black children.
CHOICES QUESTIONED
Critics assail the governor for appointing agency chiefs who would toe
the party line rather than fight for funding increases and other
changes.
Bankhead and Education Secretary Jim Horne were both Republican state
senators from Northeast Florida and political allies of Bush, while
Children & Families Secretary Jerry Regier was a leading Christian
conservative activist and a player in Oklahoma Republican politics
before coming to Florida in 2002.
None of those agency heads has performed ''to the level that I
personally think they should have,'' said state Sen. Frederica Wilson,
a Miami Democrat who has been an outspoken critic of Bush's
child-welfare and education agencies. ``They weren't put into place
based on qualifications, they were put into place based on whether
they would dance to the governor's music.''
Bush aides dispute the accusation, saying that each secretary brought
specific skills to the job. Bankhead was instrumental in creating the
juvenile justice agency, while Horne was active on education issues
and Regier headed an Oklahoma juvenile justice agency.
''They were all appointed because they have a wealth of experience and
background in their particular areas,'' said Jill Bratina, Bush's
spokeswoman.
Nevertheless, Bush is clearly on the defensive.
Late Friday, minutes after a Herald story about Bankhead's departure
appeared on the newspaper's website, the governor sent an e-mail to
the reporter who exposed the details of Paisley's death and wrote the
story about the agency chief's leaving.
Referring to an assertion that Paisley's death would overshadow
Bankhead's tenure, Bush called the story ``insensitive and
incorrect.''
''Bill Bankhead's legacy will be that there has been a drop in
juvenile crime and a drop in the number of juveniles being adjudicated
as adults,'' Bush wrote.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8017605.htm


Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a
member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at
http://www.aclu.org/action.