Monday, March 12, 2007

You Won't Like Him When He's Angry


Harry Spence is “extremely upset and angry.” Extremely. And as the head of the Massachusetts DSS, he has quite a bit to be upset about.


After all, it was DSS under Spence that left 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre in the clutches of her abusive step losers for 18 months, despite repeated burnings, bruises and reports of abuse. When DSS could no longer ignore Haleigh’s case—because she had finally been beaten into a coma on their watch--DSS did everything they could to kill the little girl, including lying about her condition to the courts in order to pull her prematurely from life support.

But is Harry Spence “upset and angry” about Haleigh Poutre? Nah. He’s proud of how DSS handled that case and says his staff has “nothing to be ashamed of.”

OK. Then is Harry Spence “extremely upset and angry” about
Rebecca Riley, the four-year-old girl poisoned to death while under DSS “protection” by her sick freak parents? Is he mad that, as with Haleigh’s case, there were repeated questions from school officials about Rebecca’s treatment and warning signs that she was being overly medicated? Is he upset that there was no medical professional working for DSS who could speak out about the radical step being taken of treating then-2-year-old for bipolar disorder with powerful psychotropic drugs?

No. Harry Spence isn’t upset about Rebecca Riley’s case either—other then his annoyance with being criticized. It’s not his fault, he says. He didn’t have enough money for enough staff, he says. We’re doing the best we can, he says. Massachusetts’s taxpayers should just accept these outcomes.

Wow.. One girl dead and another in a coma, and Harry Spence remains nonplussed. So what did it take to get the unflappable Mr. Spence “extremely upset and angry?”

Unhappy immigration criminals.

Parents who chose to sneak into the US, break the law, commit ID fraud, tax fraud, commit felonies by obtaining and using forged federal documents—these are the parents Harry Spence wants to champion. Children whose parents allowed them to remain at risk rather than tell immigration authorities where they were, these are the children Harry Spence worries about.

So why the difference in treatment? Why the outrage for the children of criminals, but not for the children being abused by criminal family members thanks to DSS incompetence?

Because Haleigh and Rebecca don’t represent a voting bloc or special interest group. There is no “La Raza” for little girls being beaten into a coma by their aunt, no MIRA Coalition for children dying at the hands of scam artist parents. Harry Spence doesn’t complain about this abuse. He defends the DSS incompetents who let it happen.

But now, Harry has found his voice. He’s finally found victims whose cause he will champion: Immigration criminals.

The same Harry Spence who—until Rebecca Riley died—
wouldn’t put a competent doctor on staff to review extreme medical treatments on little girls, found the money to send 38 DSS agents to Texas to talk to illegal immigrants about their child care plans.

How many DSS agents flooded Haleigh Poutre’s house to check up on her DSS case worker after the 5th, 10th and 15th reports of abuse?


Zero. Too bad Haleigh and Rebecca weren't Juanita and Rosalita. Maybe then, Harry Spence would give a damn about them, too.