Advocates Win Promise of Meeting with Governor Deval Patrick

Posted by John Kelly

Disability rights advocates clogged Governor Deval Patrick's office this afternoon, demanding a meeting with the governor over his administration's cuts of programs that benefit people with disabilities. After asking five times over the last six months for a meeting with the governor, BCIL's Bill Henning and MetroWest's Paul Spooner led a delegation that promised to return "with sleeping bags" unless Governor Patrick finally agrees to a meeting.

Advocates have been incensed over cuts totaling more than $1 million to community-based housing, and a prior denial of a small pay increase for personal care assistants, who make independent living possible for people with disabilities.

Patrick was not in the office at the time, but his scheduler promised that if this coming Wednesday's already-scheduled meeting between advocates and Undersecretary of .Housing and Community Development Tina Brooks leaves people unhappy, the governor would attend a meeting. She refused to budge on scheduling such a meeting until after Wednesday, even though advocates said that Brooks would be unable to meet the varied list of demands.

But based on her repeated promise, it does seem that a meeting with Patrick will happen some time in the next few weeks or so.

This past summer, the Patrick administration argued that it had no authority to agree to a recommended pay increase for personal care assistants, which had been recommended by the state's ratesetting commission. The very small raise of 3-4% would have swelled the increasingly insufficient wage of $10.84 by only about 35¢.

Advocates found the administration's reasoning dubious in the extreme.