DATE: Friday, November 28, 1997             TAG: 9711280073

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B13  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   75 lines

STATE'S ADVOCATE FOR DISABLED SAYS AGENCY NEEDS FREEDOM OTHER ENTITIES MAY INTERFERE WITH THE CONFIDENCE THAT CONSUMERS HAVE.

The state's advocacy agency for the disabled will not be effective as long as the attorney general or a cabinet secretary can meddle in its operations, its director says.

``Our relationship with other entities within state government are interfering with the confidence consumers have in our agency,'' Sandra K. Reen said in an interview. ``Until we have the confidence that we are here to serve, we cannot be effective.''

While not identifying specific ``entities,'' Reen makes clear in her 1998-2000 strategic plan for the Department of Rights of Virginians with Disabilities that she was referring to the attorney general's office and the secretary of health and human resources.

Advocacy groups have criticized DRVD for years for what they see as an inherent conflict of interest - a state agency that investigates the government to which it must answer. In most states, private, nonprofit agencies act as advocates for the mentally and physically disabled.

In a rare, if not unprecedented, admission from a state agency head, Reen acknowledged last spring that DRVD has not been doing its job and that criticism of its performance was legitimate.

The disability rights community in Virginia believes the attorney general either blocks DRVD's investigations or meaningful lawsuits designed to protect the rights of the disabled, said Reen, DRVD director for 2 1/2 years.

The agency also lacks muscle because there is no state law supporting DRVD's authority under federal law to conduct investigations and enter state-run facilities.

The most visible example of DRVD's shortcomings involved the case of Gloria Huntley, a patient at Central State Hospital who died in June 1996. Huntley complained to DRVD that the staff was abusing her, but no meaningful action was taken.

DRVD also encountered road blocks in attempting to investigate Huntley's death. When asked in June of this year if the attorney general's office was blocking the probe, DRVD attorney Clyde Mathews said: ``I don't deny it.'' After a news story about the year-long delay, DRVD began an investigation that is still under way.

Huntley's death also prompted an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, which issued a strong rebuke to Central State for wrongly using restraints to punish Huntley. The 31-year-old woman was strapped down by her arms, legs and waist for 300 hours in the final month of her life, despite warnings by her doctor a year earlier than restraints could kill her.

Reen also said in her strategic plan that DRVD needs approval of the attorney general before it can contract with lawyers to litigate cases.

Don Harrison, spokesman for Attorney General Richard Cullen, said the attorney general's office assisted DRVD in choosing a pool of 27 contract attorneys. ``The goal was to get the best lawyers that you need in that particular field of law,'' he said.

Otherwise, ``We don't get involved in their cases, we don't oversee them, we don't touch them,'' even if DRVD sues another state agency, said Harrison.

DRVD was established 20 years ago under federal mandate to protect and advocate for mentally and physically disabled Virginians.

Earlier this month, the federal government said DRVD had failed to fully protect disabled people and probably can't carry out its mission without complete autonomy.

The federal government, the advocacy groups and the disabled themselves are demanding that DRVD be moved outside government. Reen doesn't go that far in her report, but says the agency should not be beholden to the attorney general or the secretary of health and human resources.

DRVD has a $1.7 million annual budget - 86 percent provided by the federal government - and only 10 advocates who sift through thousands of complaints a year. Because the agency was created to enforce federal law, the state has shown little interest in beefing up DRVD.

Gov.-elect Jim Gilmore, who was attorney general during repeated Justice Department investigations of the state's mental health system, promised during the campaign to strengthen the role and independence of DRVD but said he would keep it within state government.

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