It is time for the Maine Legislature and Gov. Baldacci to begin immediate restructuring of the Maine Department of Human Services. We can review the recommendations to merge DHS and the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services, but we must not wait any longer to make immediate changes.

Recent reports to the Legislature indicate an $800 million structural gap, which has grown from $600 million in just 90 days, between the ’04-’05 and ’06-’07 biennium budgets. In other words, current spending is outpacing current revenues.

When I sat before the Appropriations Committee last week, I could not help but notice the same bureaucratic faces waiting to report to the joint committees of Health and Human Services and Appropriations and Financial Affairs. When citizens elect a new governor, they expect comprehensive change. We need to immediately replace the policy-makers at DHS throughout the entire agency.

The negative intrinsic attitudes toward Medicaid providers, Maine’s impoverished, elderly, foster parents and lack of kinship placement will not take place until new leadership takes the helm. It is obvious the current DHS leaders are so used to getting their own way, they mistakenly attempted to hoodwink Gov. Baldacci. I know and admire the governor and when he gives you money to get him a cup of coffee he wants the change back.

Their dysfunctional ways have been brought to the front by losing track of millions of dollars, reporting false TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] statistics and recent awareness of their lack of ability of looking at the best interest of children and families, defying reasonable efforts in lieu of federal bonuses and recklessly ignoring the placement of children with kinship or birth parents. The facts are clear now and DHS is just days away from de facto receivership.

At the Appropriations Committee meeting, current DHS policy-makers recommended cuts to the elderly by limiting funds for dentures, ear wax and bunion removal. These cuts are draconian in nature, but the same old recommendations that Angus King and his regime have made over the last five years I have served in the Legislature. Not a single cut was recommended for DHS administration, they actually have requested more positions. DHS is in denial and we need to engage the process of termination of bureaucratic rights.

I am proposing the following steps to legislative leadership and the governor:

? Appoint a new DHS commissioner by Jan. 15, 2004. A complete change in the direction of provider relations, kinship and birth-parent placement as the default for taxpayer accountability.

? Sign an executive order placing a moratorium on termination of parental tights (TPR’s) in order to allow an oversight panel to review each child protective case similar to what is taking place in California.

? Complete empowerment of Maine’s ombudsman program with dedicated long-term funding which will allow comprehensive oversight of the child protective program.

? Require the chief justice to implement guardian at litem reform. The current system has failed, lacks comprehensive oversight and several GAL’s admit they have more than 50 cases each. The current policies are scandalous and their cause and effect cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year.

? Empower the Health and Human Services committee to meet on a tri-monthly schedule to maintain objective oversight.

? Provide Maine citizens with a comprehensive report on the cost of the child protective system to include the Attorney General’s Office, the guardian ad litem program, the judicial branch and all other costs. Also include the federal incentive dollars that DHS receives for the placement of children.

? Freeze existing programs at current levels and reallocate existing dollars prioritizing funding for the elderly, the best interest of families and Medicaid providers.

? Reinstate home economics classes in high school curriculums to include parenting classes and awareness of child abuse and neglect.

? Begin the process to allow the citizens of Maine to elect the constitutional officers (attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer) and provide for a lieutenant governor. The current legislative appointment process has caused the attorney general to look out for the best interest of the state, not the people of the state. It will amaze you how Attorney General Steven Rowe will change his policies once he has to run for re-election at the behest of the voters.

The Attorney General’s Office has received a 39 percent increase in child protective prosecutions since 2000. The money could be better spent on dentures, earwax and bunion removal.

Eddie DuGay is a Democratic state representative from Cherryfield.