Agency Tries To Hide Abuse

It looks like we've got a state agency that's getting a bit too big for their britches. The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services is the state agency that oversees the state schools that house the mentally disabled. The leadership of this agency has decided that the people of Texas don't deserve to know what's going on in those state schools.

The United States Department of Justice has declared that the state schools have a serious problem of patient abuse. Even Governor Perry has declared this an emergency issue that needs to be addressed in the current legislative session. So, it's not like there's nothing going on. There are obviously abuse issues that need to be addressed.

But the agency has imposed a virtual blackout on releasing any information. Their rather feeble justification is that they face possible litigation from the Justice Department. That may make sense to them, but to me it makes matters even worse. Are they really trying to tell us they are wanting to hide information from the United States Justice Department? Isn't that a crime?

According to the San Antonio Express News, the agency has denied more than a dozen requests for information. They seem to have forgotten they are a state agency, and they work for the people of Texas. As Jeff Garrison-Tate, president of Community Now!, says, "People have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent, as well as how our most vulnerable citizens are being treated."

Maybe these agency leaders got the idea for this from the last eight years of national leadership, where the government was the most secretive in our history. But those dark days are over. The people have decided they want to know what our government agencies are up to - whether they are federal, state or local.

This agency needs to open its files and let some sunlight in. Secrets are for dictatorships.