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Schwarzenegger appointee withdraws nameDate: 14.03.2007
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team United States
A controversial Schwarzenegger administration appointee to a state commission on building standards withdrew his nomination Wednesday after disability rights advocates raised questions about his commitment to compliance with disability access laws and his ties to private industry.
Kim Blackseth, who is quadriplegic and runs a private consulting business on disability access, has been sitting on the Building Standards Commission for almost a year. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to fill a post set aside for a person with disabilities on the 11-member commission, which oversees the state agencies that write the building code.
But at a state Senate confirmation hearing on Blackseth's appointment last week a stream of witnesses from the disability rights community testified that they felt he helped businesses and governments find ways around complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and state building codes. They also charged that he had improperly used his position on the commission to advocate for his paying clients.
At one point, they produced a document showing that Blackseth advised one of his clients, an elevator company, to submit its particular technology for adoption into the state building code _ a matter that could have come before the commission for approval.
Members of the Senate Rules Committee asked Blackseth to respond in writing before a vote on his nomination that was to take place Wednesday.
But Blackseth said he agreed to let his appointment lapse before the vote because it became clear that the five members of the committee were not prepared to approve him. In an interview Wednesday, Blackseth said he felt the committee had been unfairly swayed.
The disability advocates "made an enormous amount of untrue representations and attacked my integrity and professionalism," Blackseth said. "It was extremely painful. It was the most unpleasant thing I have done since I broke my neck and turned into a quadriplegic in 1979."
Monday, before agreeing with the governor's office that he would allow his nomination to lapse, Blackseth submitted a letter to the Rules Committee in response to the allegations leveled at the hearing.
"I never indicated that I would advocate for the adoption of this technology and neither did I prepare or participate in, nor was I compensated, in any way, for the preparation of any materials ... related to this technology," he said.
The Blackseth confirmation is at the nexus of several ongoing controversies. Schwarzenegger's appointments process came under scrutiny last week after two of his friends from his bodybuilding days, named to the Board of Chiropractic Examiners, fired the executive director and endorsed controversial chiropractic techniques.
Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the governor was prepared to support Blackseth but respected his wish to withdraw.
"From the information that we have, we don't think there was a conflict of interest," McLear said. "We think Mr. Blackseth was a qualified commissioner and we thank him for his service."
The opposition to Blackseth also stems from deep divides over how access laws should be enforced in the state. A series of Bee stories published in November found that California's generous payouts to people who sue businesses for violations of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act have spawned numerous lawsuits up and down the state.
Over the years, lawmakers who have proposed bills to help California businesses cope with ADA requirements and lawsuits have met with strong opposition by disabled activists, many of them in wheelchairs, who often pack public hearings. Blackseth has helped lawmakers craft some of those plans.
"There's no political courage up there," said Blackseth, who was appointed to the commission in March 2006 by the governor. "They see the wheelchairs, they see these guys, and they just buckle."
Blackseth did get support at his confirmation hearing from two of the state's leading access attorneys, one of whom is also disabled.
But many disability rights advocates say he does not represent their views.
"I think the larger (disability advocacy) community would tend to believe there shouldn't be too many compromises for enforcement and compliance," said Marty Omoto, head of the California Disability Community Action Network. "Kim, I think, is a private consultant who's being paid by businesses and for whatever reason is putting a priority on trying to create exceptions" to state and federal rules.
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