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Joe, here's a suggestion for you - ask your pal, Wendy, at SHT, if she will find space in her newspaper to run this NEW column by Mike Thomas, in the interest of that thing called FAIRNESS. (Hold onto your hat before you read this:)

SENTINEL COLUMNIST

Mike Thomas

Regier may be just the fanatic DCF requires

Published August 27, 2002

The other day my stay-at-home helpmate smote our child on the rear for running out in a parking lot.

So I guess that disqualifies me to direct the Department of Children & Families. Thank God!

Oops. I meant that as a colloquialism, not a belief in a Christian deity. Given the public stoning of Jerry Regier, I find it safer being an agnostic.

Regier is the sucker whom Jeb Bush has hired to run Florida's child-welfare agency. He is the one accused of Christian fanaticism. This is the man who would have us dads beat our kids in a manly, Biblical manner.

But from what I've read, the only people he smites are inefficient or crooked government officials.

Regier was named the 2001 Administrator of the Year by the Oklahoma chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. He cleaned up a social-service agency that apparently had been run by the Sopranos.

There were bribes. Nursing homes were tipped off to upcoming inspections. Officials threw wild parties at state resorts. "Ghost employees" on the payroll, including three former legislators, were collecting checks for doing nothing.

Regier entered, heads rolled, indictments were issued, nursing homes got hit with unannounced inspections, and fines skyrocketed.

The nursing-home industry squealed, and Regier did not back down. And in what has to be a first for a conservative, he was accused of being in cahoots with trial lawyers who sued the homes for negligent care.

Regier's response: "I also believe that when residents are abused or not cared for properly, the resident has the right to do something about it."

Now let's look at some of his extreme beliefs about dads. He believes they should be involved in their kids' lives. He says better dads would mean less juvenile crime.

"The role of the father in the life of a child is critical and almost irreplaceable," he wrote in 1997. "America's youth ... need dads who will become real men and pay their emotional, moral and disciplinary child-support payments. Being a male is a matter of birth, but being a real man is a matter of choosing to be responsible and accountable."

His other remedies for juvenile crime include teaching kids consequences, giving them a moral compass, providing a good education, stressing literacy and providing job training. This fanatic even has endorsed higher teacher pay.

Regier worked on Gov. Frank Keating's controversial initiative, which hasn't proven successful yet, to strengthen marriages in Oklahoma. He says the lack of stable families is costing society billions in welfare, a problem particularly acute in Oklahoma where there are 76 divorces for every 100 marriages.

Regier was quoted as "sternly" testifying before Congress: "If you want to keep the government out of your life, then stay married."

That sounds scary, doesn't it? But Regier was quoting a judge who said divorce invited the government into couples' private lives by having it involved in personal matters such as custody and visitation.

I disagree with many of Regier's religious views. But I don't care if he worships tree frogs as long as he can clean up our child-welfare mess.

The only values I've seen him introduce into government are hard work, leadership, compassion and a moral obligation to do the right thing.

Mike Thomas can be reached at 407-420-5525 or mthomas@orlandosentinel.com.

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Now, I am convinced Mike Thomas reads FreeRepublic. From what I read, no one else in FL mentioned that award Regier received - except this forum. If you ever write to Mike Thomas again, ask him if he wants to come on the forum, and if he does, he can freepmail me if he wants me to set it up for him. Or, you can do it. Whatever. :)

Thank you, Summer!

Verrrry interesting, summer. I will do as you bid. Can you please provide a URL for this article? I could not readily locate it on the Orlando Sentinel's website.

My letter from post #68 garnered no response from the SH!T-people. No surprise there.

Thanks!

See the original post, AND see the subsequent article in post #71. The DCF "controversy" was media hype, and even this liberal columnist (who has written plenty of anti-Jeb articles) knew it.