DRCNH Home > News > 10-14-2004

In the ad, Nadeau says, "Craig Benson has done more to help people with disabilities in two years than any governor we've ever had."

But according to several leaders in New Hampshire's disabled community, Benson's record does not support Nadeau's claim. And they question why Nadeau, a state employee, appeared in a campaign commercial for the man whose office controls her $60,000 salary. An early version of the ad identified Nadeau's position and employer; a later version removed that title and identified her simply as a disabilities activist.

"In the past two years, there's been a series of attempted or actual cuts that are unparalleled in my experience in New Hampshire," said Richard Cohen, executive director of the Disabilities Rights Center, a group that provides legal assistance to people with disabilities. "It's critical that disabilities issues be part of the campaign, but we need to be accurate about what the state of services are to people with disabilities. I think the record needs to be set straight."

In the past two years, Benson has endorsed several changes to programs that support those with disabilities in New Hampshire. Those changes include an attempt to tighten the eligibility requirements for the Katie Beckett program, which serves children with severe disabilities; the closure of two peer support centers for people with mental illnesses; and the consolidation of several regional centers for people with developmental disabilities.

Cohen said the disabilities community has often had to battle for funding and support from past governors, but he said Benson presented a different kind of fight - one for survival.

" So many of us spent the last two years just fighting back these insensitive, ill-founded attacks when we'd much prefer advancing the cause,"Cohen said. "Benson, either systematically or callously, has had no regard. Either he's intentionally tried to dismantle the system or he's had no regard for his actions."

Kathleen Sgambati is a former deputy commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services who worked under five governors. She listed the achievements of previous chief executives, like Judd Gregg's support of the Katie Beckett program and Jeanne Shaheen's increased funding for home-based care for people with disabilities. She said Benson had funded part of the waiting list for people with disabilities but "other cuts offset much of those gains."

"Someone would have to rewrite New Hampshire history to accurately claim that Governor Benson did more for people with disabilities in two years than any other governor," Sgambati said.

In an interview yesterday, Nadeau said she was approached by Benson's campaign to appear in the commercial. She said her appearance in the ad was not meant to carry the endorsement of the Governor's Commission on Disability.

"I was not speaking on behalf of the commission," Nadeau said. "I was just appearing as myself, as a private citizen."

Nadeau, who also writes a column on disabilities issues for the Union Leader, defended her praise for Benson by citing several of his initiatives. She said he had set up a task force to examine how to make public transportation more accessible to the disabled. Benson also established a pilot project, Nadeau said, that encourages the disabilities commission to share ideas with the state Human Rights Commission. Neither of those initiatives has resulted in any new policies, Nadeau said.

She also said her endorsement had been misinterpreted. She meant to say that no previous governor had done more in his or her first term to support people with disabilities than Benson had. She did not mean that Benson's record on disabilities issues surpassed that of any other governor.

"That would have been laughable," Nadeau said.

Nadeau has been executive director of the governor's commission for two years and has served on the commission for 24 years. She said she checked with the attorney general's office before agreeing to appear in Benson's ad. She dismissed the critics of her claim that Benson was a strong supporter of the disabilities community.

"If people have concerns, they need to bring those concerns to the commission," Nadeau said. "They've been silent."

In a brief interview yesterday, Benson defended Nadeau's appearance in his ad.

"Carol Nadeau has been a huge supporter of mine," he said. "She's knitting me a sweater right now. She volunteered to help me in whatever way she could, and she wanted to set the record straight."

Alicia Preston, a spokeswoman for Benson, said the use of Nadeau's state title in the earlier version of the ad had been a mistake that was corrected as soon as it was noticed. She said the ad stopped running on WMUR sometime in the last few days but it may still be airing on local cable stations.

Mike Cohen, executive director of the New Hampshire branch of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, said his organization withstood a "wholesale assault" from Benson when the governor tried to cut spending to the state's mental health agency.

He did credit Benson with several good ideas, including having a single caseworker for patients who receive services for both mental and developmental disabilities. But he said Nadeau's claim in the commercial did not reflect the view of the majority of people who work in the disabilities field.

"She's a person who has some influence and is well-known in the disabilities community, but I do think her message is a message of one," said Mike Cohen. "And we want to get across that when you look at the entire impact of the governor's work on the disabilities community, I think that her message of one doesn't hold water."

(Daniel Barrick can be reached at 224-5301, ext. 322, or by e-mail at dbarrick@cmonitor.com.)