Friday, during an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) reacted to a three-year-old Bessemer boy dying earlier this week while in Department of Human Resources (DHR) custody after being left alone in a hot vehicle for nearly five hours.
The Baldwin County Republican argued for introspection at all levels of state government, including from Gov. Kay Ivey, whose response, he suggested, left much to be desired.
On Thursday, Ivey's office told 1819 News the Governor was still backing DHR commissioner Nancy Buckner in the wake of the tragedy.
"I don't think the Governor's response was adequate at all," he said. "I'll say that. You know, this is an absolute tragedy. This is embarrassing on top of that. I cannot imagine a situation where you proclaim someone is not taking care of their child so much so that you have to remove them from their parents' custody. And then you, as a contractor or an agency, end up forgetting them in the back of the car to the point you cause their death. That is just horrific."
"Agencies, the Governor — we all should take responsibility for this and look deeply into what happened and why," Elliott continued, "Same with this immigration stuff, simply passing it off and saying, 'Oh, that was a contractor. That was not our responsibility,' or, 'That person has been terminated,' I think, is an inadequate explanation. I think we all need, the executive branch, certainly, because that is who hired the contractor. That's who runs the agency. That's who is ultimately responsible. You know the old saying, 'The buck stops here'? Well, I think some may have forgotten that. That's not OK."
"The onus lies on the legislature, as well," he added. "We need to make sure we provide the funding that is necessary to perform this task. And if we're not going to pay people enough to do this job, which I think we can all agree is no fun, then are those parents just not better off with their parents?"
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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