Last evening, Thursday, January 21, 2016, I took part in a telephone
conference. The Department of Services for the Blind was, and is,
seeking comments on its proposed Vocational Rehabilitation Operations
Plan for the coming year, and beyond. Out of all of the efforts to
make this pubblic meeting known, and attended, only 7 people called
in. This included the assistant director and his associate, whose job
it was to provide us with an overview and seek comments. The agency
plan is about 70 pages long, part of a 600 page document outlining the
tasks and responsibilities of the general social service agencies.
Only the assistant director and his assistant had read the entire
proposal. All of those joining in on this call are members of the
ACB, except the assistant director. No one from the NFB was concerned
enough to attend.
I bring up this dismal attendance because it demonstrates what is
happening in this nation today. We are becoming apathetic, reacting
rather than acting on government proposals. We are allowing our
future to be determined by the very people we should be giving
direction to. Even when, as I believe last evening showed, the
efforts of those government employees are well-intentioned, we are
sending a signal that we simply don't want to be bothered. Of course,
I believe we have come to this place in our behavior through long
efforts by the Ruling Class to distract us.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/22/16, Frank Ventura <frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com> wrote:
> All too often this is what happens when work is subcontracted and
> privatized. Nothing unusual here.
> Boggles the mind and sickens the stomach.
> Frank
>
> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of joe harcz
> Comcast
> Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 1:43 PM
> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
> Subject: [blind-democracy] grand jury on sourceamerica
>
> Feds investigating premier work program for disabled after CNN reports
> Feds investigating premier work program for disabled after CNN reports
>
> (CNN) - A federal grand jury is examining the nation's premier program that
> provides work for people who are severely disabled, after a series of CNN
> investigative
> reports detailing allegations of corruption and cronyism in what sources say
> could be the biggest fraud case ever in a U.S. government agency.
>
> CNN has learned government investigators have issued grand jury subpoenas as
> they investigate the huge taxpayer-funded program, known as AbilityOne, and
> specifically its managing agency, SourceAmerica.
>
> Along with bid rigging and corruption, grand jury investigators are looking
> into allegations the program is operating numerous contracts illegally, and
> not hiring enough disabled people to fill contracts as required by law, as
> CNN detailed in earlier reports.
>
> The AbilityOne and SourceAmerica program dole out hundreds of
> multimillion-dollar contracts to scores of organizations. To get a contract,
> 75% of a company's
> work must be performed by the severely disabled, people who cannot get work
> elsewhere.
>
> Yet, numerous sources have told CNN that SourceAmerica awards contracts
> unfairly, giving lucrative deals to companies with inside connections. Some
> SourceAmerica
> board members have also worked at companies that are awarded big contracts.
>
> One such example is outlined in a lawsuit alleging bid-rigging, one of
> several suits filed against AbilityOne and SourceAmerica in recent years.
>
> The suit was filed by Ruben Lopez, owner of Bona Fide Conglomerates, a
> company that lost its contract cleaning the federal courthouse in Las Vegas.
> He alleged
> the contract was taken away and given to another company that had an
> official sitting on the board of directors at SourceAmerica.
>
> Eventually, Lopez settled the Las Vegas contract dispute with SourceAmerica.
> As part of the settlement, SourceAmerica agreed to treat Lopez's company
> more
> fairly, even appointing their top lawyer, Jean Robinson, to work with him.
>
> But Lopez said his company was blackballed instead and received no more
> contracts. Lopez sued SourceAmerica again, claiming it violated the
> settlement agreement,
> and that claim is now ongoing in the courts.
>
> Lopez became so disgusted with how corrupt the process was that he began
> working with federal investigators and secretly recorded conversations
> between
> himself and Robinson.
>
> Those recordings, which CNN obtained independently, are now part of the
> federal investigation, having been requested under the grand jury subpoena.
>
> The recordings are striking, among other reasons, because Robinson compared
> her company's leadership to the leadership of the mafia.
>
> "They're like - they're like the mafia, I mean, and they pride themselves in
> it. They don't care," Robinson is heard saying in one part of the
> recordings.
>
> "You know, we are dealing with the mafia here, the old - the old
> SourceAmerica mafia," she said in another recording.
>
> On the recordings, Robinson confides she is nervous about being set up by a
> board of directors she claims has been fraudulently awarding contracts for
> decades.
>
> "People have been doing it for so many years, and they're not going to
> stop," she said. "They're just - it's like an addiction. They're just, so
> much time
> has passed, they've been getting away with it for, you know, for what, 25
> years, and they don't know how to do it different."
>
> Officials at SourceAmerica and AbilityOne repeatedly declined interviews
> with CNN, issuing statements denying fraud, corruption, cronyism, bid
> rigging,
> or illegal activity.
>
> The recordings of Robinson, SourceAmerica writes, are "factually inaccurate
> and untrue." The statement notes that Lopez, head of what it calls a
> "disgruntled"
> nonprofit, is suing Source America. The statement goes on to say
> "SourceAmerica is continuing to vigorously defend itself against these
> unfounded allegations."
>
> Source:
> http://www.wlsam.com/news/feds-investigating-premier-work-program-for-disabled-after-cnn-reports/
>
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