Wex Wimpy
September 2nd 03, 05:47 PM
This is what bothers me about regier is he keeps pushing this fruit
cake st stuff.
DCF lawyer says he's not an extremist
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
CHILD WELFARE
James H. K. Bruner, recently hired as a high-ranking lawyer for the
Department of Children & Families, was a featured speaker -- along
with subway gunman Bernhard Goetz -- at a New York rally that decried
the ''tyranny'' of the United Nations and used a U. N. flag as a floor
mat.
And a website maintained by a group called the Patriot Saints for the
Kingdom of God on Earth, which says governments should not provide
human services to the needy, lists Bruner, 45, as a member of the
chapter in his former home city of Albany, N. Y.
Bruner vehemently denies being a member of the Patriot Saints, though
he acknowledges receiving information from the group as executive
director of the New York Family Policy Council -- a job he left to
join DCF. He will be paid about $82,000 as a ''special assistant to
the general counsel'' of DCF.
''When you are running a not-for-profit, you have to have
relationships open with various groups, which does not mean you are
submitting to their ideals,'' Bruner told The Herald on Friday. 'As
executive director, I was a coalition-builder and friend-maker. That
does not mean I subscribed to these groups' policies.''
DCF Secretary Jerry Regier, who was sharply criticized last year for
authoring essays that suggested it was acceptable to spank children,
even when such discipline resulted in ''bruises or welts,'' said
Bruner's beliefs are not far from those of many conservatives.
''The views he has expressed are certainly the views expressed by
thousands and thousands of Floridians,'' Regier said in an interview
late Friday, adding that men and women of strong religious convictions
often are wrongly portrayed as members of a fringe group.
Still, Regier's hiring of Bruner, who is not yet licensed to practice
law in Florida, struck a discordant note Friday with critics of the
troubled social service agency, who say Regier appears to be using the
organization to promote a conservative moral agenda.
Since his appointment last year, Regier has agreed to pay his campaign
manager from a failed gubernatorial bid in Oklahoma to supply the
department with a character-building curriculum for DCF employees.
He also has spearheaded an effort to convince an appeals court to
appoint a guardian for the fetus of a disabled rape victim in Orlando,
a move critics charge is designed to strike a blow against legal
abortion.
`INADEQUATE JOB'
''The department is charged with the responsibility of protecting the
vulnerable, and it has done a woefully inadequate job in fulfilling
that fundamental duty,'' said Lance Block, a Tallahassee attorney and
advocate for disabled people who has represented two disabled women
who became pregnant following rapes.
``Now, we have a secretary who seems to want to spend resources and
energy on religious values, when the taxpayers are paying him to focus
on children in foster care, children who have been abused and
neglected, the developmentally disabled who are begging for services
and the aged who are just hoping to get a meal every day.''
Said Karen Gievers, a longtime advocate for Florida foster children:
``We are told there is not enough money to do the job right. . . .
Where does [Regier] come up with another $82,000 for an attorney who
is not even licensed to practice here, who does not know the first
thing about Florida's foster care system?''
On its website, the Patriot Alliance likens government-sponsored human
service programs to ``compulsory redistribution of wealth, [which] is
a violation of freedom.''
''We believe that the primary responsibility for meeting basic human
needs rests with the individual, the family, churches and other
voluntary charitable organizations,'' the Patriot Alliance states in
its ''platform'' on the website.
Regier said he remains committed to Bruner, whom he described as
having a ''tremendous background and experience'' in administrative
law and with the legal needs of abused and neglected children.
''He has experience and interests, and he has had the background to
back them up,'' Regier said.
Bruner, father of six children, said he took the DCF job with hopes of
improving the lives of needy children. ''My purpose in working with
children is from a desire to help all people, all children. That's
what public service is,'' he said. ``That's what I intend to bring to
the job.''
Bruner acknowledged taking a position that assailed ''diversity
training'' but insisted his role as head of the New York family
council was one of advocacy, not government service. ''We attorneys,
when we are admitted to practice . . . swear to uphold the laws of the
state -- and that is my intention,'' he said.
FAMILY VALUES SPEECH
Bruner said he attended the ''Tyranny Response Team'' rally outside
the U. N. in July 2001 in order to give a speech about family values,
highlighting his belief that some U. N. policies run counter to the
needs of families. He did not necessarily approve of all the speakers
who attended.
''They asked me to speak,'' Bruner said. ``I spoke on family issues.''
He also said such advocacy work is ''irrelevant'' to his work as an
attorney for DCF.
''I would rather talk about the issues that are relevant to Florida
families and the experience I can bring to helping Florida families,''
Bruner said.
Herald staff writer Wanda J. DeMarzo and researcher Carlson Daniel
contributed to this report.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/6654480.htm
cake st stuff.
DCF lawyer says he's not an extremist
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
CHILD WELFARE
James H. K. Bruner, recently hired as a high-ranking lawyer for the
Department of Children & Families, was a featured speaker -- along
with subway gunman Bernhard Goetz -- at a New York rally that decried
the ''tyranny'' of the United Nations and used a U. N. flag as a floor
mat.
And a website maintained by a group called the Patriot Saints for the
Kingdom of God on Earth, which says governments should not provide
human services to the needy, lists Bruner, 45, as a member of the
chapter in his former home city of Albany, N. Y.
Bruner vehemently denies being a member of the Patriot Saints, though
he acknowledges receiving information from the group as executive
director of the New York Family Policy Council -- a job he left to
join DCF. He will be paid about $82,000 as a ''special assistant to
the general counsel'' of DCF.
''When you are running a not-for-profit, you have to have
relationships open with various groups, which does not mean you are
submitting to their ideals,'' Bruner told The Herald on Friday. 'As
executive director, I was a coalition-builder and friend-maker. That
does not mean I subscribed to these groups' policies.''
DCF Secretary Jerry Regier, who was sharply criticized last year for
authoring essays that suggested it was acceptable to spank children,
even when such discipline resulted in ''bruises or welts,'' said
Bruner's beliefs are not far from those of many conservatives.
''The views he has expressed are certainly the views expressed by
thousands and thousands of Floridians,'' Regier said in an interview
late Friday, adding that men and women of strong religious convictions
often are wrongly portrayed as members of a fringe group.
Still, Regier's hiring of Bruner, who is not yet licensed to practice
law in Florida, struck a discordant note Friday with critics of the
troubled social service agency, who say Regier appears to be using the
organization to promote a conservative moral agenda.
Since his appointment last year, Regier has agreed to pay his campaign
manager from a failed gubernatorial bid in Oklahoma to supply the
department with a character-building curriculum for DCF employees.
He also has spearheaded an effort to convince an appeals court to
appoint a guardian for the fetus of a disabled rape victim in Orlando,
a move critics charge is designed to strike a blow against legal
abortion.
`INADEQUATE JOB'
''The department is charged with the responsibility of protecting the
vulnerable, and it has done a woefully inadequate job in fulfilling
that fundamental duty,'' said Lance Block, a Tallahassee attorney and
advocate for disabled people who has represented two disabled women
who became pregnant following rapes.
``Now, we have a secretary who seems to want to spend resources and
energy on religious values, when the taxpayers are paying him to focus
on children in foster care, children who have been abused and
neglected, the developmentally disabled who are begging for services
and the aged who are just hoping to get a meal every day.''
Said Karen Gievers, a longtime advocate for Florida foster children:
``We are told there is not enough money to do the job right. . . .
Where does [Regier] come up with another $82,000 for an attorney who
is not even licensed to practice here, who does not know the first
thing about Florida's foster care system?''
On its website, the Patriot Alliance likens government-sponsored human
service programs to ``compulsory redistribution of wealth, [which] is
a violation of freedom.''
''We believe that the primary responsibility for meeting basic human
needs rests with the individual, the family, churches and other
voluntary charitable organizations,'' the Patriot Alliance states in
its ''platform'' on the website.
Regier said he remains committed to Bruner, whom he described as
having a ''tremendous background and experience'' in administrative
law and with the legal needs of abused and neglected children.
''He has experience and interests, and he has had the background to
back them up,'' Regier said.
Bruner, father of six children, said he took the DCF job with hopes of
improving the lives of needy children. ''My purpose in working with
children is from a desire to help all people, all children. That's
what public service is,'' he said. ``That's what I intend to bring to
the job.''
Bruner acknowledged taking a position that assailed ''diversity
training'' but insisted his role as head of the New York family
council was one of advocacy, not government service. ''We attorneys,
when we are admitted to practice . . . swear to uphold the laws of the
state -- and that is my intention,'' he said.
FAMILY VALUES SPEECH
Bruner said he attended the ''Tyranny Response Team'' rally outside
the U. N. in July 2001 in order to give a speech about family values,
highlighting his belief that some U. N. policies run counter to the
needs of families. He did not necessarily approve of all the speakers
who attended.
''They asked me to speak,'' Bruner said. ``I spoke on family issues.''
He also said such advocacy work is ''irrelevant'' to his work as an
attorney for DCF.
''I would rather talk about the issues that are relevant to Florida
families and the experience I can bring to helping Florida families,''
Bruner said.
Herald staff writer Wanda J. DeMarzo and researcher Carlson Daniel
contributed to this report.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/6654480.htm