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Disabilities board leaders out |
Gov. Mark Sanford effectively removed four commissioners at the state Department of Disabilities and Special Needs amid cascading complaints about the way the agency, which is charged with caring for the state’s disabled, operates.John Vaughn of Greenville, Edythe Dove of North Charleston, John Powell of Walhalla, and William F. Bishop of Leesville were asked to resign from the seven-member board earlier in the week.The $470 million agency, which cares for 28,000 people with mental retardation and related disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, is reeling from a scathing Legislative Audit Council report that recommended 66 changes in the agency.The department came under sharp criticism recently for slashing funds to operate an autism program for 3-year-olds, when millions of dollars allocated for the program had gone unused or were rerouted to other uses.An ad hoc Senate panel was assembled six weeks ago to look into the agency, amid complaints DDSN was unresponsive to clients and that it intimidated family members who raised questions about its operations.
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