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Don Sullivan is a Republican. He is also a state representative from Seminole and part of the great machine that rules this state.
He ought to be happy. His party is utterly, absolutely in charge.
But Sullivan is not happy. Disgusted and angry might be more like it.
For he has seen the damage of Republican money cuts - in this case, an across-the-board cut to programs for adults who are developmentally disabled.
"The people in my district did not elect me to throw retarded kids out on the street," he said Monday.
Not the talk of a good party man, is it?
You have to understand. The issue is personal to Sullivan. His 31-year-old daughter, Mary, suffers from autism and mental retardation, and lives at a home run by UPARC, the Upper Pinellas Association for Retarded Citizens. UPARC, based in Clearwater, is one of the many agencies hurt by the state's cuts.
Three of its 31 group homes may be forced to close and their residents forced to move elsewhere. With the cuts, UPARC bleeds $100,000 a month, according to executive director Thomas Buckley.
They took the hits differently at the Pinellas Association for Retarded Children in St. Petersburg. Rather than shut down programs, PARC cut 11 jobs. That may not sound like much, but the developmentally disabled require lots of care, from lots of people. PARC's president, Curt Thomas, worries that the agency may lose its accreditation.
The story of how those cuts occurred makes one wonder whether the people in charge of the Department of Children and Families can even tie their own shoes.
The problem began when DCF spent $1.5-million to determine whether agencies across the state got the same pay for taking care of the developmentally disabled.
The answer came back no.
So the state raised rates, with a proviso from the Legislature that if it looked like spending was running too high, DCF would cut back. DCF apparently did a lousy job of predicting costs. In November, only four months after the higher payments began, DCF feared a deficit. It cut funding to agencies by more than 14 percent.
Now a second study is under way. It was ordered by DCF Secretary Jerry Regier to see if his agency got it right - in other words, whether the cuts were fair and accurate.
There is a certain oh-here-we-go-again quality to this story of Florida and funding for the most vulnerable among us. Last spring, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature nearly gutted the state's Medically Needy program for people who couldn't afford doctor bills and drugs. The public outcry suddenly enlightened them.
Why do the Republicans do things this way? Why are they so bent on wrecking social programs for the truly needy?
State Rep. Sullivan says there is a way out. He pointed to a pot of unspent money. The pot contains $400-million. DCF's deficit is $27-million.
The Legislature can't appropriate the money until its next session, in March, unless it decides that the care of the developmentally disabled merits convening a special session.
The governor and the Legislature did just that for the Scripps Research Institute last October. It handed the biotech company $369-million to open up a branch in Palm Beach County.
You can see why state leaders would knock themselves out to get a high-profile firm like Scripps. But even a small share of that $369-million would buy a lot of care for the developmentally disabled. Why is this so hard for the Bush administration to grasp?
"If they really want to do this, they can do it," Don Sullivan said. "It's not a big deal."
He's right. It shouldn't be a big deal. But somehow, in Florida, it always is.
- You can reach Mary Jo Melone at mjmelone@sptimes.com or 226-3402.