EXPLANATIONS: ATTACHMENT TO APPLICATIONS
Philip Campbell & Mary Cerreto

We responded "Yes" to five items on the Application Form that require explanations.

#27 Have you ever been involved in civil litigation, or administrative or legislative proceedings of any kind, either as plaintiff, defendant, respondent, witness or party in interest?

In a suit against the Department of Mental Retardation, the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioners are often sued in a hierarchy that includes the Governor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Regional Director, the Area Director, Service Coordinators and Direct Contact Staff. Involvement of the Commissioner and/or the Assistant Commissioners in such suits is most often attributable to their policy-making responsibilities or their ultimate responsibility for Department actions, rather than specific actions attributable to the Senior Manager.

#29 Have you been publicly identified, in person or by organizational members, with a particularly controversial national, state or local issue?

In our responsibility to assure regulatory compliance and the delivery of quality services to people with mental retardation, the Department, Commissioner (Philip Campbell), Assistant Commissioner (Dr. Mary Cerreto), Chief Counsel, Director of Investigations and others were sued by an agency over our contention concerning the agency's inappropriate use of aversive techniques (i.e., electric shock) on vulnerable persons with mental retardation. The agency asserted that our attempt to regulate its actions violated a settlement agreement made between the agency and another state body from which the Department of Mental Retardation "inherited" the agreement. The Department was supported by national organizations such as the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS), The Association for People with Severe Handicaps (TASH), and ADAPT and by state organizations such as the Massachusetts Arc and the Disabled Persons Protection Commission. The issues were hotly debated nationally; internal to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, however, the suit pit the Judicial Branch against the Executive Branch of government. The agency prevailed in the suit and the judge wrote a scathing judgment against the Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, Department and Office of the Attorney General lawyers, and Department witnesses.

#30 Have you ever submitted oral or written views to any government authority or the news media, on any particular controversial issue other than in an official government capacity.

Although no longer the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Retardation, Philip Campbell signed on to amici briefs at the Supreme Court level upon the request of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services

#32 Have you ever had any association with any person or group or business venture which could be used, even unfairly, to impugn or question your character and qualifications for the requested appointment?

In the suit referenced above (see #29), the character and qualifications of Commissioner Campbell and Assistant Commissioner Cerreto were impugned.

The principles, reliability and validity of the quality assurance system established by the Assistant Commissioner, with support and direction from Commissioner Campbell, were questioned by persons with values that conflicted with those of the system. The Regional Office of the Health Care Financing Administration conducted two surveys that established the validity of the Department's quality assurance system, adopted its outcomes and principles for its regional Home and Community Based Services Waiver compliance reviews, and selected the system as one of eight national "exemplary" systems for further study by the Human Services Research Institute. This latter study confirmed the system's reliability.

#33 Do you know anyone who might take any steps, overtly or covertly, to oppose your appointment?

Opposition to our appointment may arise from the agency involved in the suit described above and/or from parents whose sons or daughters still reside in Massachusetts Developmental Centers or are former class members of the five consent decrees that ran continuously between 1972 and 1993. It should be noted that, similar to the results of all national studies, three independent studies, including one conducted by the parents themselves, have confirmed the high degree of satisfaction of parents of people who have moved from the Developmental Centers into small community homes operated by private vendors or by the state.