Print Friendly VersionOctober 2006, Issue 106
ADVOCACY ACTION NEWS
October 2006, Issue 106
VOTING/ELECTIONS
FEDERAL/NATIONAL
WISCONSIN
LOCAL
ADA/FAIR HOUSING
VOTING/ELECTIONS
Elections are just around the corner… it is time to make your opinions heard! On November 7th, be sure to go to the polls and cast your ballot! Election categories include: governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, U.S. senate, U.S. house, state senate, state assembly, and many more.
In order to qualify to vote, you must be at least 18 years old on Election Day and a U.S. citizen. You must also have lived in the state of Wisconsin and the district where you are voting at least 10 days prior to the election. If you are qualified to vote, there are several ways to register:
1. At the municipal clerk’s office: You may register in person during regular office
hours. Contact the Election Commission at: City Hall, Room 501, 200 E. Wells
St., Milwaukee, WI 53202, Phone: 414.286.3491 (V/Relay)
2. By mail: You may write or call the municipal clerk and ask that a voter registration
form be sent in the mail.
3. As part of a voter registration drive: You may register as part of a door-to-door
drive. Civic organizations also may register voters at various public locations.
4. At a public high school: Students, teachers, and other staff may register to vote
at heir public high school.
5. At other places before Election Day: A voter may register at other places such as
fire stations, libraries, and community centers. These places are pre-arranged
through the municipal clerk’s office; please check with the clerk for sites.
6. The deadline for pre-registration is 20 days before the election! If you miss this
registration deadline, you may register at your polling place on Election Day. If
you register the day of the election, you must provide proof of residence. This
may include a Wisconsin Driver’s license, a residential lease effective for a period
that includes Election Day, a utility bill for the period beginning not more than 90
days before the Election Day, or a university, college or technical institute fee card.
7. There are also several staff members at IndependenceFirst who are able to
register people to vote. For more information, contact Patti Stengel or Jenna
Ottow at 291-7520 (V/TTY).
If you cannot make it to the polls on Election Day, you may arrange to vote absentee. Applications for absentee ballots must be received at the municipal clerk’s office by the Thursday before the election. You can complete the application found on the election commission’s website: http://www.city.milwaukee.gov/ or contact Patti Stengel or Jenna Ottow at IndependenceFirst for more information on voting absentee.
FEDERAL/NATIONAL
Prepare For Emergencies!
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced joint efforts with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the American Red Cross (Red Cross), the National Organization on Disability (NOD) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to assist older Americans and individuals with disabilities in preparing for emergencies.
For the department's Ready Campaign, AARP, Red Cross and NOD developed two new brochures highlighting the key preparedness steps older and disabled Americans and their families and caretakers should take before emergencies occur. The NFPA also announced its new Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities, designed to help individuals with disabilities and businesses prepare for emergency evacuation events. Additionally, NFPA is including evacuation planning for people with disabilities in its series of emergency evacuation workshops across the country this fall.
Through its Ready Campaign, DHS encourages all Americans to get an emergency supply kit, make a family emergency plan, and be informed about the types of emergencies that can happen and their appropriate responses. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates more than 84 million Americans are over age 50.
According to the National Organization on Disability, 54 million men, women and children in America have disabilities. The new materials recommend these Americans add medicines, medical records, glasses and hearing aids and other equipment to their basic emergency supply kits. The brochures also recommend that individuals develop an emergency plan tailored to their unique needs and a personal support network they can call upon in the event of an emergency. In addition, the pieces urge Americans to learn about the types of emergencies that can occur where they live and the local plans in place in their communities.
NFPA's Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities is a tool to provide people with disabilities, employers, building owners and others with assistance in developing emergency evacuation plans for people with disabilities. The guide includes critical information on the operational, planning and response elements necessary to developing a well thought out plan to evacuate a building in the event of an emergency. NFPA is using the funds from a Fire Act Grant provided by DHS to provide a series of evacuation workshops that will also include the importance of planning for members of the disability community. The workshops will focus on why organizations need well-developed and regularly practiced emergency evacuation and relocation plans.
For free copies of the new emergency preparedness brochures for older Americans and people with disabilities or more information about emergency preparedness for individuals, families and businesses, visit www.ready.gov, or call 1-800-BE-READY. NFPA's planning guide an be downloaded free of charge from the NFPA Web site at www.nfpa.org.
WISCONSIN
Wisconsin’s Primary Elections have ended and the winners have been decided. Those candidates that have won their respective political party primaries will now continue onto the November 7th General Elections.
Governor and Lt. Governor: There was no primary election for Governor, since the respective parties each had only one candidate. However, the Republican primary did decide who will be the candidate for Lt. Governor. Incumbent Governor James Doyle (D-Madison) and incumbent Barbara Lawton (D-Green Bay) will face challengers Mark Green (R-Green Bay) and Jean Hundertmark (R-Clintonville); and, Nelson Eisman (Green Party-Madison) and Leon Todd (Green Party-Milwaukee). Mark Green currently serves in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 8th Congressional District and his running mate Jean Hundertmark is currently serves in the Wisconsin State Assembly.
State Attorney General: Incumbent Peg Lautenschlager (D-Fond du Lac) lost her re-election bid to Democratic challenger Kathleen Falk (52.5% - 47.5%). Kathleen Falk currently serves County Executive of Dane County and had run for Governor four years ago in the Democrat Primary. Falk will face the Republican primary election winner J.B. Van Hollen, who defeated his opponent, Paul Bucher from Waukesha. The race for State Attorney General is expected to be a highly competitive race.
Secretary of State: Incumbent Democrat Doug La Follette beat his primary challenger with 71% of the Democratic vote. Doug La Follette will face two challengers in the November 7th General Election: Sandy Sullivan (R-Mauston) and Michael LaForest (Green Party-South Wayne). Doug La Follette was elected Secretary of State in 1974 and 1982 and has been re-elected since 1986.
State Treasurer: Incumbent Republican Jack Voight will face three challengers in the November 7 General Election: Dawn Marie Sass (D-Milwaukee); Tim Peterson (L-Oconomowoc); and, Winston Sephus, Jr. (G-Milwaukee). The incumbent State Treasurer Jack Voight has held this position since he was elected in 1994.
U.S. Senate: Incumbent U.S. Senator Herb Kohl will face Robert Gerald Lorge (R-Bear Creek) and Green Party candidate Rae Vogeler (G-Oregon).
U.S. Congress: Wisconsin has 8 U.S. Congressional seats, where all but one seat have contested races in the November General Election.
State Senate: The State Senate has 13 seats facing challenges in the November 7th General Election.
State Assembly: The State Assembly has 62 races out of the 99 available assembly seats.
Source: Broyderick & Associates
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“There is nothing like the power of
the made up mind!”
~ Jewel Diamond Taylor
LOCAL
Housing Initiatives Proposed
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker announced that he is proposing spending nearly $250,000 in next year's budget to enhance housing programs for people with chronic mental illness, at a time when other county programs are being substantially trimmed. His plan calls for some realignment of county agencies, including the creation of a housing section specifically for the Behavioral Health Division.
"We are hoping that by spending some money upfront, the county will actually save money in the long run," Walker said. He noted that studies show that a person is less likely to relapse when he or she is in permanent housing. "In addition to the altruistic reasons, there are some cost- effective considerations," Walker said.
The initiatives will be submitted to the County Board in Walker's budget proposal. The board votes on the budget in early November. Plans include selling the Behavioral Health Complex on Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa and using the proceeds to develop permanent housing for people with chronic mental illness. To help do that, the county would establish a housing division specifically for clients within the Behavioral Health Division. This would be a spinoff of the current system, which lumps together housing needs of all low-income and disabled people. The county also would spend half of the profits from the sale of Park East land for permanent, affordable housing for people with mental illness.
Another $75,000 would be earmarked to provide staff on site to help people with mental illness who are living in private apartments.
Other proposals include:
• Spending $50,000 to hire a national expert to create a 10-year
Housing Master plan for people with disabilities.
• $25,000 for the county to participate in a group of agencies, known as the
Continuum of Care, to be eligible to receive more funding from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• Establishing that half of the county's community development block grant -
approximately $375,000 a year - would be dedicated to projects designed to
enhance the availability of permanent housing for people with mental illness.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article (edited)
ADA/FAIR HOUSING
Precedent Set for Web Accessibility
A federal district court judge in California ruled that a retailer may be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind. The ruling was issued in a case brought by the National Federation of the Blind against Target Corp. (Northern District of California Case No.C 06-01802 MHP) The suit charges that Target’s website is inaccessible to the blind, and therefore violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. (ADA), the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the California Disabled Persons Act. Target asked the court to dismiss the action by arguing that no law requires Target to make its website accessible. The Court denied Target’s motion to dismiss and held that the federal and state civil rights laws do apply to a website such as target.com.
For more information, contact:
Mazen M. Basrawi—Attorney for Plaintiffs Equal Justice Works Fellow Disability Rights Advocates Berkeley, CA
510-665-8644 (V)
510-655-8716 (TTY)
mbasrawi@dralegal.org
Insurance Discrimination Lawsuit
The Fair Housing Center of Washington, a Tacoma-based nonprofit agency dedicated to ending illegal discrimination in housing, and the Fair Housing Council of Oregon, a nonprofit fair housing agency promoting equal access to housing in the state of Oregon, have settled a lawsuit involving alleged discrimination on the basis of disability in the provision of homeowners insurance. The settlement in Nevels v. Western World Insurance Company, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, provides $2.0 million in monetary relief and ends nearly four years of litigation and administrative complaints alleging violations of the federal Fair Housing Act.
Other plaintiffs included four adult family home operators from Washington and Oregon whose property and/or liability insurance had been cancelled or non-renewed. The plaintiffs were represented by the Washington, D.C.-based civil rights law firm, Relman & Associates (www.relmanlaw.com) and by Jesse Wing of the Seattle-based firm, MacDonald, Hoague & Bayless (www.mhb.com).
According to Lauren Walker, executive director of the Fair Housing Center, the lawsuit exposed and ended the company’s practice of terminating and refusing to renew insurance coverage for adult family homes serving people with mental illnesses. “We were surprised how blatant the discrimination was,” she said, after finding more than 150 notices terminating or non-renewing insurance coverage. “Some notices even agreed to continue coverage if the operators agreed to get rid of their residents with mental illnesses.” Western World admitted that it cancelled the insurance policies because the plaintiffs provided care for individuals with mental disabilities, but claimed in court papers that the Fair Housing Act did not apply to the kind of insurance policies it offered. The federal court soundly rejected that view, issuing a preliminary decision in the case on December 10, 2004 [Nevels v. Western World Insurance Company, 359 F.Supp.2d 1110 (W.D. Wash. 2004)].
As part of the settlement, the plaintiffs and Western World agreed to establish a Settlement Fund for the benefit of all other adult family home operators in Washington and Oregon who received a Notice of Cancellation/Non-Renewal of insurance coverage from Western World between January 1, 2002, and May 7, 2004 that made reference to mental illness or a mental illness designation associated with the insured’s adult residential care facility license.
Advocacy Action News is published by IndependenceFirst on or about the 1st of each month. Submissions of articles are due by the 15th of each month prior to publication. For consideration, send your articles or announcements to the Editor, Karen Avery, via e-mail to kavery@independencefirst.org.
Advocacy Action News is available by request in alternative formats such as Braille, large print, on disk or audiotape. It is also made available via our website.
You may also receive Advocacy Action News via email instead of print copy. Contact Karen at 414-291-7520 (V/TTY) or kavery@independencefirst.org.
If you do not have access to the internet, and would like assistance in obtaining any of the internet-based items described in this news bulletin, please contact Karen at 414-291-7520 (V/TTY).
IndependenceFirst
The Resource for People with Disabilities…
600 W. Virginia Street, 4th Floor
Milwaukee, WI 53204
414-291-7520 (V/TTY)
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