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BIG TENT COALITION FREEDOM RALLY

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

At the State Capitol, Topeka, Kansas  

	RichardGwin Journal-World Photos BRAD LINNENKAMP, LAWRENCE, attends a Big Tent Coalition rally with about 1,000 other disabled Kansans and advocates from across the state. The coalition Wednesday at the Statehouse in Topeka urged lawmakers to increase taxes to restore funding cuts imposed late last year on social service agencies.
JOHN BEASLEY, LAWRENCE, holds his hand over his heart as the national anthem is played during a rally at the Statehouse   Rally promotes  services funding  By Dave Ranney Lawrence Journal-World dranney@ljworld.com

TOPEKA — At a rally Wednesday outside the Statehouse, John Beasley did not stand for the national anthem.

He tried, but his legs gave out, causing him to plop back down into the wheelchair he's been in since last May when he slipped on the steps outside his mobile home, breaking his neck. He can't walk now, and barely has use of his arms and hands.

"If I have something to hold on to, I can stay up a couple minutes," he said. "But if I don't, I can't stay up more than about 30 seconds."

Sitting down, Beasley, 45, placed his hand over his heart for the remainder of the national anthem. "l am proud to be an American," he said. "I love this country. I support our troops in Iraq, fighting for freedom. But I also think if we're going to fight for freedom over there, then we ought to be fighting for freedom here, too. That's why I'm here, I want my freedom."

Though his accident left him with slurred speech, Beasley addressed a rally organized by the
Big Tent Coalition, a group representing 81 agencies caring for the state's poor and disabled.
"The only thing I'm here to ask for is, please, make it so I can keep my dignity," Beasley said, prompting lengthy applause from the 1,000 people in attendance.

Earlier this week, the coalition urged legislators to "unfreeze" the lists of those waiting for state services by raising the state's 5.3 percent sales tax by one-tenth of 1 percent, and increasing the state income tax by 3 percent. The two taxes would raise roughly $94 million.

At the rally, attendees were encouraged to lobby their legislators. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, and Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, declined invitations to address the rally. Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, accepted the group's invitation but did not attend.

House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, urged the group to recognize that at Sebelius' behest, lawmakers had taken steps to restore most of the spending cuts imposed late last year.

But when asked to describe the chances of passing a tax increase to move people off waiting lists, McKinney replied: "Right now, slim."

Currently, 3,042 people -- all of them poor, disabled and frail -- are on waiting lists.

One of them is Beasley, who was a steel worker for 20 years. After his accident, he had to move in with his mother and stepfather, Norman and Mary Ann Puckett, who live two miles south of Lawrence. Together, they're raising his 13-year-old daughter, Ali, a seventh-grader at South Junior High School.

Beasley's wife, Robin, died of multiple sclerosis a week before Beasley's accident.
Beasley doesn't like it that his parents, both in their 60s and in poor health, have to care for him. He also worries that if anything happened to them, he'd be put in a "rest home" because he would have nowhere else to go.

He's been on a waiting list since June for services that would help him and Ali live on their own.
After the rally, about 50 attendees, most of them in wheelchairs, went to the third floor of the Statehouse, where they hoped to meet with their legislators outside the House and Senate chambers.

All but a handful of legislators avoided the group by using stairs in the rear of both chambers.

The snub angered Shannon Graham, a Lawrence foster parent caring for a severely disabled child. "I can't believe this," she said. "We elect these people and they won't even hear us out."
She paused, then added, "That speaks volumes to me."

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THE KANSAS BIG TENT COALITION

The Kansas Big Tent Coalition is a statewide group advocating that the Kansas Legislature restore funding for essential services provided by or through the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS). Please read the Kansas Big Tent Coalition Resolution and Statement of Beliefs, then sign on to support this statewide advocacy effort! Please share this information with all people who may be interested. 

Go directly to "STATEMENT OF BELIEFS" (below)

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A RESOLUTION CREATING THE KANSAS BIG TENT COALITION

BE IT RESOLVED that the undersigned groups and individuals announce the creation of a new coalition to be named the KANSAS BIG TENT COALITION and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Kansas Big Tent Coalition members come together as a unified voice for the purposes of supporting the following initiatives:

• To raise sufficient revenue for the purpose of decreasing the impact of budget cuts and ensure access to the state’s human services to allow choice, dignity and self determination for those Kansans most in need;
  

• To restore and protect essential services for Kansas’ most vulnerable citizens; and
  

•  To ensure continued participation by service providers in fiscal years 2003 and 2004; and
  

•  To further use this revenue to secure independent living for all Kansas citizens.

  

SIGNED ON_______________________                        BY_______________________

                        (date)                        (authorized signature)

Name of Organization      _______________________________________________

Number of Members ___________                        Number of Customers Served ___________

Contact Person   _____________________________________________________

Phone        ________________________   Title   ____________________________

Fax             ____________________

Email          ____________________

Address              __________________________________________

City, State, Zip    __________________________________________

For questions, please call Shannon Jones at 785-234-6990

Please Fax completed Resolutions to 785-234-6651, Attn. Shannon Jones

 01/02/03

STATEMENT OF BELIEFS

The Kansas Big Tent Coalition is comprised of organizations and individual advocates who share the common goal of restoring State funds to protect and preserve essential services for Kansas’ most vulnerable citizens.  Collectively, the Coalition believes that:

1. Each society is best judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.
   

2. By eliminating essential services to citizens in need, Kansas jeopardizes their basic human right, as supported by the Olmstead Decision, to live in the most integrated setting of their choice.  Without services, these citizens will find their right to choice, dignity, and self-determination compromised.
   

3. There comes a time when reductions are counter-productive.  Our state has reached that point. These reductions are overtly harmful to seniors, the working poor, and people with disabilities.  Moreover, they put families in crisis and children at risk. Consequently, when assistance is not available, situations exacerbate and conditions worsen.  The ultimate costs to the consumer, their families, and the state will far exceed past expenditures. Funding cuts, though seemingly expedient in the short-run, will undoubtedly undermine the state’s ability to avoid higher care and assistance costs in the future.
   

4. Many of the beneficiaries who will lose services, and their families, have long been contributing to the state of Kansas through their taxes.  They are expected to meet their responsibilities as citizens, while the State has chosen to redefine its own responsibility to its vulnerable citizens. 
   

5. For many years, the providers of health and social services, including Medicaid, have subsidized the programs by providing millions of dollars of free care. They have felt a civic responsibility to participate and have tried to balance their losses by other means.  But, in these economic times, that has become more and more difficult. As small businesses, they too contribute to the tax base and are now jeopardized by sharply reduced rates and the elimination of services.  Reimbursement rates do not begin to cover actual costs and many providers will have to cease participation.
   

6. A basic American doctrine is that “you must help people to help themselves.”  For many, these services allow them to remain independent, while participating productively in their families and communities.  Without these services, many of these individuals will have no options and little choice about the way their lives will change.  They’ll lose the dignity of independence, their self-sufficiency, and freedom from a daily struggle just to manage their essential daily needs.
   

7. We must not lose sight of the fact that these cuts fall on the shoulders of Kansans who already face significant challenges.  We cannot forget that the “numbers” have faces and that their lives will be significantly altered by our decisions.  No one should have to live at the mercy of others, but should have the right to live by “choice”, not by “chance.”

MEMBERS SIGNED ON:

Representing 74 organizations and a total of 603,329 members/customers

Statewide Independent Living Council of KS
Coalition for Independence (5,000)
Prairie Independent Living Resource Center (800)
ILC of NE Kansas (521)
CIL of Southwest Kansas (600)
Kansas AFL-CIO (100,000)
Kansas Home Care Association (125)
Kansas Assistive Technology Cooperative
KS Association of Centers for Independent Living (14)
Three Rivers, Inc. (1,300)
Resource Center for Independent Living (1,860)
Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities (10,000)
Prevention & Recovery Services (10,000)
Independent Living Resource Center (1,300)
The United Methodist Church-KS Area (166,000)
Nat’l Multiple Schlerosis Society-Mid America (20,000)
KS Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired (256)
Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation of KS, Inc (1,400)
United Cerebral Palsy of KS, Inc (500)
Kansas Area Agencies on Aging Association (45,000)
LINK, Inc. (972)
The Whole Person, Inc (1,000)
Kansas Association of the Deaf, Inc (2,000)
Butler Co. Dept of Aging (16,000)
Southeast KS Independent Living (2,196)
The Dream Works (100)
Assistive Technology for Kansans (18,423)
Self-Advocate Coalition of KS (6,540)
First Class Transportation (500)
Midwest Bioethics Center (20,000)
Independence Inc (1,200)
Kansas for Addiction Prevention (7,000)
Brain Injury Association (597)
The ARC of Douglas Co. (500)
Kansas Action Network (20)
Harper Hospital Home Health (62)
Jason Gallagher
Craig Home Care (200)
The Paratransit Council, Inc (3,000)
Community Memorial Healthcare (280)
Via-Christi Riverside Home Care (120)
Topeka Center for Peace & Justice (666)
Western KS Assoc. on Concerns of the Disabled (4,000)
SEK-CAP, Inc (1,000)
Community Works, Inc (140)
Association of CMHCs of Kansas (85,000)
InterHab (10,000)
Keys for Networking (10,000)
Independent Connection (1,200)
Reno County Youth Services (650)
KS Chapter, Nat’l Association of Social Workers (1700)
Breakthrough House Inc (700)
Full Citizenship, Inc (50)
Kansas Public Health Association, Inc (500)
Developmental Services of Northwest KS (500) 
Nat’l MS Society-All America Chapter  (3500)
Families Together, Inc (10,000)
CLASS LTD (350)
KS Assoc. of Home & Services for the Aging (15,300) 
Kansas Pharmacises Association (1000)
Care 2000 Home Care & Care 2000 Home Health (197)
Ks Commission on Disability Concerns (500)
Lucas Golden Age Center (25)
OCCK Inc. (2,000)
Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, KS (195)
Grinnell Senior Center (20)
Kansas Hospital Association (150)
Greg Jones 
Dave Sorrick
Becca Bernd
Marilyn Kubler
Kelly Smith
Kansas Youth Leadership Forum (300)
Public Housing Authority of S. Hutchinson (200)