[nfbmi-talk] Those Darn Sneaky Blizzards

Wed Jun 23 03:04:09 UTC 2010

Joe, I think both your email and Elizabeth's hit the nail on the head.  In 
addition, Dave Robinson was fired because he knows of the internal 
mismanagement in the BEP, the deplorable and disrespectful treatment of 
operators by the BEP staff and the unwillingness of BEP management to insist 
that building managers obey the law.  He advocated for blind people and 
spoke out against the corruption that he saw and that still exists.  The 
fact that the same administrative law judge is hearing so many cases and the 
number of administrative hearings, grievances and cases involved in federal 
arbitration is absolutely mind boggling. To say that there are extremely 
serious problems in the BEP is the under statement of the ear.

Mary Ann

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz at comcast.net>
To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 10:18 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Those Darn Sneaky Blizzards

You have a lot of it right on elizabeth, but there is much much more than
the college policy involved here. not that that is unimportant mind you. It
is.

Frankly, I think that Lehman Jones alredy put his college policy in to RSA
in December though I can't prove that and that they are just making a dog
and pony show of consumer involvement here.

But, they aren't reporting the numbers on all kinds of standards and
indicators including required consumer satisfaction surveys and, most
importantly MCB has been real hinky with its financing including abusing the
cash match requirements.

I know that our sister agency, by public comments in minutes will be out $10
million next year and will go to order of selection.

And there report isn't finalized yet either.

In fact only Michigan's is not final on the RSA web site out of all the
states monitorred in Fiscal Year 2010.

This is an old problem this failure and collapse of monitoring.

It goes back to when Bush fired Joanne Wilson. At that time he also cut the
federal monitoring in half and eliminated all the regional offices. Also the
annual on site auditing was not done every year as it used to be and now
they are just getting down to thorough monitoring.

Also I've heard real good things about the new RSA Commissioner Lynnae
Rutledge and she's done a lot with a broken system of monitoring, but she
was only confirmed last December.

Now you are right on though in your analysis as far as it goes though. Just
there's a lot more than this college policy that is hinky.

And I'll say it to my grave that Christine was not fired because of any
marksmanship program, but rather because she knew too much about the
internal mismanagement and groos malfeasance.

It also was why Mark Eagle was gone after so badly. For he was hit right
before the RSA monitoring team hit the ground here back last March.

Anyway again your instincts are right on and I'll write more as things come
foward. But, as an old reporter I must say whenever government officials
work as hard as these clowns have to hide something then they have something
to hide.

Peace and keep at 'em.

Joe
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elizabeth" <lizmohnke at hotmail.com>
To: <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 10:03 PM
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Those Darn Sneaky Blizzards

Okay, so I think I might have figured out why the Michigan Commission for
the Blind does not want to release the audit report that we have been
requesting. At the last NFB board meeting, Christine Boone explained that
once an audit is conducted, the agency is given some time to fix some of the
discrepancies before the final report is released. I could be wrong about
this, but I am wondering if the failure to release this report has anything
to do with their failed attempts at adopting a new college policy because I
honestly cannot think of anything else that the agency has been trying so
hard to change. If there are some discrepancies are looking to fix, then
what better way to fix them by adopting a new policy?

If I recall correctly, I have heard that the audit report was first
mentioned by agency personnel sometime last fall. And if I recall correctly,
I believe it was around this time when the college policy came before the
Commission Board for adoption. If the agency is given a period of time to
fix any discrepancies on the report, and if the college policy was soon to
come before the Commission Board, then I would imagine that they would want
to push back the release of the audit report until after the Commission
Board approved the new college policy. But the Commission Board did not
approve the college policy, and the audit report was not released to the
general public.

And now it would appear as though the same thing is happening again. The
college policy was to go before the Commission Board around the same time
the audit report was to be released to the public. But once again, the
Commission Board failed to approve the college policy, and to my knowledge,
they have yet to release the audit report to the general public. Is this
merely a coincidence or is there something more to this connection?

At yesterday’s college policy meeting, I was a bit surprised and rather
pissed that the Commission Board members in charge of heading up this issue
basically blindsided all of the students and consumers who worked hard at
providing written feedback on the college policy by the deadline they set
for receiving these comments. Instead of working from all of these comments
to create a policy that would work for all of those involved in this
meeting, the Chair of the committee decided to write something up at the
last minute the night before the meeting, and then basically slammed it down
our throats because the Commission Board absolutely needs to adopt a new
college policy at their next Board meeting. Again, is this sense of urgency
to adopt a new college policy have anything to do with the release of the
federal audit?

I understand the Commission provides rather detailed explanations that seem
to explain things, but I am honestly getting to the point where I do not
believe a word that they say. A friend of mine who lives in Minnesota told
me that their state went through a federal audit this past spring, and yet
they have already received their report and are currently in the process of
conducting public hearings on the report. So even though Pat Cannon says
there is a problem with the process for conducting these audits as he
explained during the Commission Board meeting on Friday, I am sorry, but I
just do not buy it. If they are already releasing reports for this year,
then I would think that would mean that they have already finished all of
the reports from the previous year.

As far as the college policy is concerned, I really do not have a clue what
to do next. I still think the main reason why they are looking at changing
the existing policy is so that they can implement a means test without
really calling it a means test. And even though we were given an explanation
of the differences between a means test and the new DELEG financial aid
form, I am still not convinced that it is not a means test.

and I’m sorry, but I’m tired of basically having everything I say be
confronted by some counter argument without even being considered. They talk
about respecting others, and yet I still feel as though I am not being
respected simply because I am not one of them. I am sorry, but I am tired of
trying to work with an agency that does not appear as though it has any
respect for me. And as much as I would love to represent this organization
on this issue, I am not sure if I have the strength to do it anymore. I know
that I am a good writer, but verbal arguments are simply not a strong suit
especially when it feels as though they are just simply waiting there to
argue against me without really taking the time to listen to me.

Elizabeth
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