Accountable error

Governor Easley isn't backing off, not one bit, from his explanation of how mental health reform was so badly botched. He traces today's problems to poorly thought-out legislation, enacted by the General Assembly in 2001, that set the framework for the new system. He says his administration "vigorously" opposed the reform initiative.

But repetition doesn't make a weak case more persuasive. And in this matter, the evidence points to a different conclusion.

It's certainly the case, as an N&O editorial noted last week, that early in the 2001 legislative session Carmen Hooker Buell (later Odom), then-secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, rightly criticized an effort by Senate budget writers to close Dix Hospital and other institutions precipitously. But the final mental health legislation, enacted by the full General Assembly months later, was a far more comprehensive effort, with funding attached. And it got a far different reaction.

Easley promptly signed the bill into law (on Oct. 15, 2001). Hooker Buell, writing in the Nov. 11, 2001 N&O, praised the reforms and the months-long process that created them. She added that "We [the Easley administration] will exercise our authority to make many of the tough decisions needed to change our mental health system."

That last quote gets to another point. The legislature provided a framework for reform; it was up to the administration to implement it. Hooker Buell promptly hired Richard J. Visingardi of Michigan to put reform into effect (or, as a news story at the time put it, "to build upon her blueprint for changes"). And when Visingardi left in 2004, she hailed his "fantastic job launching this."

Easley and his administration accepted the reform plan, hired officials to direct it, made nuts-and-bolt decisions about how it would work and, apparently, didn't ask legislators to fix its flaws. Now, having taken their eyes off the ball, they object to being credited with an error.