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3 full-timers ready to run discrimination commission By Norman Lockman Globe Staff Three new full-time commissioners were appointed to the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination by Gov. Michael S. Dukakis on Thursday, completing the organizational phase of rebuilding the agency responsible for monitoring compliance with state and Federal antibias laws. The new commissioners will be sworn in on March 7, taking over a battered agency burdened with a budget problem that will be worsened by their own salaries. Jane C. Edmonds, a black 35-year-old Sharon School Committee member and third-year law student, was selected as chairman, replacing Hugh Wade, a black 37-year-old law professor. Samuel Stonefield, a white 31-year-old civil rights attorney from Springfield, and Alex Rodriguez, a Hispanic 35-year-old civic activist from Boston's South End, were appointed to replace three part-time commissioners. Edmonds, who was appointed for three years, will be paid $25,000. Stonefield, a two-year appointee, and Rodriguez, appointed for one year, each will receive $23,000. Dukakis pushed for reorganization of the agency for more than a year, contending that three full-time commissioners could better clear up the case-clogged, disorganized operation than the four part-time commissioners. However, because of the governor's austerity program, the reorganization was not tied to an increase in the agency's budget. Dukakis has asked for $785,000 for agency operations next year, the same amount appropriated this year. Salaries for the four part-time commissioners totaled $47,600. The three full-time commissioners will be paid $71,000, a budget increase of nearly 50 percent. Beneath the reorganization process there has been a largely silent but bitter struggle to oust Wade. Although he has been publicly praised for improving the agency in his year's tenure as chairman, he has been privately criticized for inefficiency, arrogance and poor work habits. Wade charges that he was undermined by people in the governor's office and the Legislature who disliked him, he said, because they couldn't control him. Several weeks ago, Wade lost a fight to prevent several million dollars in Federal funds from coming to Boston until city officials improved their minority hiring procedures. The months-long battle over Wade has left a badly demoralized agency staff. To make matters worse, Wade said recently the agency may lose a substantial amount of Federal funds from the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, which is changing its grant policy for antibias agencies on a nationwide basis. Wade said the loss of funds could reduce the agency's ability to hire lawyers and investigators. Edmonds said she hoped improvements in administration will make the agency's limited resources stretch further. She said she was impressed with the governor's eagerness to make the commission more effective. "I have no political allegiances at this point," she said. "But being an outsider may be a benefit since I understand this job requires a certain amount of stepping on toes." Edmonds will graduate from Boston College Law School this spring. She tackled full-time college at Radcliffe as a housewife with four children, graduating cum laude in 1973. She was elected to the Sharon School Committee in 1972 and was its chairman in 1974. Most of her experience as a civil rights advocate, politician and manager came while a member of the Sharon School Committee. Stonefield is an attorney for the Western Massachusetts Legal Services in Springfield, where he has specialized in cases involving housing discrimination. He has been a prison lawyer and once practiced privately in Athol. He will be chiefly responsible for the agency's operations in central and western Massachusetts. Stonefield said the agency could be more cost effective if commissioners and staff members put more emphasis on persuading violators to comply with antidiscrimination laws without the need for court intervention and quasi-legal action within the commission itself. "That way everything won't be such a pitched battle," he said. "Emphasis on voluntary compliance is important because hearings and court actions absorb an unbelievable amount of resources." Rodriguez is assistant vice president of the United Community Planning Corp., a policymaking arm of United Way. He is founder and director of the Hispanic Office of Planning and Evaluation and the Puerto Rican Foundation for Community Development. He is a specialist in budget and systems management. Rodriguez says those areas have received inadequate attention in the past at the commission. "We'll have to concentrate on the commission's inabilities," Rodriguez said. "There is a scientific method to identify need in an agency, and that need is not always met by money." The new commissioners were chosen from a group of 40 finalists screened by a special committee headed by John R. Buckley, secretary of the Department Administration and Finance. 'I have no political allegiances at this point. But being an outsider may be a benefit since I understand this job requires a certain amount of stepping on toes.' ][image - black and white photo of Jane Edmonds]] [[caption]] JANE C. EDMONDS [[/caption]]
