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Index Number: 26346

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

     This letter was sent to members of the New Jersey Assembly
Senior Citizens and Social Services Committee.

                                       ABOUT A-1884

     This proposed legislation, if passed by the Assembly Senior
Citizens and Social Services Committee and the floor of the New
Jersey State Assembly, will create many problems, the most severe
of which will be for blind vendors.
     Over half of the blind operators of vending stands in New
Jersey earn less than $12,000 per year.  Yet, the Commission for
the Blind wants to levy a tax on these people. Other states had a
set aside tax until it was eliminated for various reasons. So, why
is CBVI so insistent?
     Such money is supposed to be used for the Vending Stand
Program--development of new locations, improvement of existing
stands, equipment, etc.  However CBVI will use most of the money
to hire additional administrative staff when the agency is already
the most top-heavy in New Jersey.  Other funds will be diverted to
the agency's Contracts Unit which hires expensive outside
contractors to do what in-house field workers have been doing for
the past eighty years at a much lower cost.  The most recent is the
executive director's former employer.  Most of the others have
never worked with blind people and know little about necessary
hi-tech equipment or other special needs.  This should be looked
into.
     The set aside provision was stricken from S-1195 by Senator
Bassano and the Health and Human Services Committee. Additionally,
it was proven illegal several years ago.  Nevertheless, CBVI's
executive director has vowed to keep it in A-1884.  Already she and
a Deputy Commissioner of the state's Department of Human Services,
Lawrence Lockhart, have begun visiting blind vendors to eliminate
any resistance.  On 1/6/93, Mr. Lockhart met with the group of
blind vendors.  They were told of plans to split them into regional
groups.  Is this to divide and conquer?  Last year the Commission's
director told them that if she didn't get the set aside tax she
would eliminate the program completely. This intimidation must be
stopped.
 Another problem with A-1884 is the changing of the agency's name
from Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired to Division for
the Visually Impaired and Blind.  Blind clients are already being
pushed onto the back burner because of the misguided assumption
that this population is more difficult to train.  Quite the
contrary.  It is visually impaired people, who must go through a
lengthy adjustment period, who take longer to train for long-range
goals.  By the time they have adjusted to a level of sight loss,
the eye condition has usually exacerbated without their realizing
it.  Changing the name, therefore, will      result in less
attention being given to blind people, despite a strong desire to
become gainfully employed and what CBVI administrators may contend
to the contrary.
     Making the Commission a Division will also be a mistake.  This
will give the director the power to funnel even more money into the
agency's Contracts Unit, the least cost effective program in the
agency.  It will also give that person more freedom to hire and
fire at will.
     When pink slips were given out last year, several targeted
administrators at CBVI were merely reassigned, some to newly
created positions.  One individual, who had no bumping rights, was
permitted to bump into a protected position.  Others received new
titles and retained their level of pay.  Changes had to be made,
back and forth, several times when the authorities in Trenton
learned of this obvious disregard for the SOP.
     Although there has been a hiring freeze in New Jersey state
employment, CBVI's director hired a confidential secretary    and
a deputy director, both of whom worked with her in New York.  Even
an administrator's wife was hired to direct a program that was
being adequately run by someone else.  Additionally, several
administrative positions have been created.  A year from now a
Civil Service exam will be requested and the new appointees will
be the only people eligible to take the test because of the
on-the-job experience they will have acquired.
     The list goes on, but it is obvious that to give this person
the power of a division head will result in even more problems.
Rules mean nothing to Jamie Casabianca-Hilton.  At a December 4,
1992 meeting, she was quoted as having      said: "I don't care
what they say in Trenton.  I'm going to do what I want."  As an
additional result of her stubbornness and insensitivity to blind
people, several civil rights suits, and one soon-to-be very costly
civil suit, against the agency are pending.  This person is
notorious for openly using profanity and otherwise behaving in a
 manner that is not appropriate for such a professional position.
She has been deceitful, manipulative and in total disregard for the
needs of others with disabilities.
     Passage of A-1884 will cause countless problems for blind
people in New Jersey.  Already the agency's high administrative
costs has been resulting in drastic reductions in services to
clients.  Please, on behalf of the over 70,000 blind and visually
impaired people in New Jersey, reject this bill.  If you have any
further questions, I can be reached at the above telephone number.
Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
John J. Dragona

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