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Secretaries of Elder Affairs Alliance
27 Lodge Road
West Newton, MA 02465
April 2, 2003
The Honorable Thomas M. Finneran
Speaker of the House
Massachusetts House of Representatives
Room 356
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Dear Mr. Speaker:
We are four former Secretaries of Elder Affairs who served,
respectively, under both Democratic and Republican governors. We are
asking for your support to maintain Elder Affairs as an independent
secretariat and that it not be included in the reorganization of the
Executive Office of Human Services. This reorganization would downgrade
Elder Affairs and reduce its ability to serve effectively the 1.2
million elders in Massachusetts.
Elder Affairs was the first cabinet level elder affairs office in the
country. It has a strong community base in its statewide system of 27
Aging Service Access Points and 348 Councils on Aging. It has been
supported for 30 years by previous administrations, the Legislature and
elder constituencies. It has been and continues to be successful.
Downgrading Elder Affairs has been proposed in the past. Fortunately
for the elder community, the Legislature did not let this happen.
The original reorganization plan proposed by Governor Sargent in 1971
did not include an office of Elder Affairs. This was added by the
Legislature under the leadership of Speaker David Bartley and the
advocacy of thousands of members of the Massachusetts Association of
Older Americans convened by the late Frank Manning. The Legislature has
been the protector of older persons since the turn of the twentieth
century when it created a commission on aging. We are asking you to
continue that tradition at the beginning of the twenty first century by
maintaining Elder Affairs as a freestanding cabinet agency. We would
welcome the opportunity to meet with you and discuss this reorganization
plan and its current and future implications for the elders of the
Commonwealth.
Thank you for your past and continued support.
Sincerely,
James J. Callahan, Jr. 1977-1979 Franklin Ollivierre 1991-1998
Richard Rowland 1983-1987 Lillian Glickman 1998-2003
( Four past Secretaries of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs)