[Missouri-l] Fw: [Leadership] ACB and the Treasury Department Suit

[Chip Hailey]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mitch Pomerantz 
To: leadership at acb.org ; acb-l at acb.org 
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 1:08 PM
Subject: [Leadership] ACB and the Treasury Department Suit


Colleagues:

I have followed the discussion on these lists for the past several days regarding ACB's action, or inaction, relative to our successful suit against the U.S. Department of the Treasury.  Clearly, a short refresher as to our position in this matter and the judge's charge to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is in order here.

Firstly, it was always our position not to specify a particular accessibility solution to the Treasury.  Some have posted that given what other nations have done, it's a "no brainer" to do what every other country has done.  In fact, and as the variety of suggested changes mentioned on this thread have demonstrated, there are several options being used around the world, and little unanimity of thought as to which of those options would be best, even among our own members.  That is absolutely why ACB did not want to propose a unilateral "best" choice.

As a consequence, it was understood and expected that the Treasury Department would, by necessity, need to conduct a survey of blind and visually impaired persons to attempt to obtain some sort of notion as to which of several options was prefered by the greatest number of folks.  Many of you participated in that survey during the 2008 ACB Convention and other surveys were conducted at the NFB Convention, the Carroll Center and other venues.  Now the report based on those surveys has come out, albeit several months later than originally proposed.  ACB has some criticisms of that report, particularly in regard to the current and projected numbers of blind and visually impaired persons who would benefit from accessibility changes to U.S. currency.  I and others have speculated that this undercount is due to a bias in favor of an electronic solution to the problem, but speculation is all it is for now.  We will be forwarding our concerns through our attorney, Jeffrey Lovitky at the appropriate time.

I must ask, perhaps rhetorically perhaps not, would it have been better to "dictate" an accessibility option?  Would it have been better to tell the Treasury Department what it should incorporate in future currency?  My personal belief is that had we done that, two things would have happened: most importantly, the case would likely have been thrown out of court, and a significant number of ACB members would have vocally and justifiably criticized the leaders and staff for dictating such an option.

Secondly, in his final ruling, the Judge directed the Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing in its next distribution of new currency to incorporate accessibility features.  As I indicated in my 2008 President's Report and subsequently in several other speeches to affiliates, we know that this means that we will not see changes in our currency for from three to five years, which is the standard cycle for designing, manufacturing and distributing new currency.  Hence, and despite some comments here to the contrary, there is, indeed, a deadline; one which was stipulated by the Federal District Judge.

I hope that this has clarified where matters stand and ACB's position.  I believe that a lot of misinformation about both issues has been disseminated.  While I thoroughly understand the endemic mistrust of our government, it troubles me when a few choose to extend that mistrust to ACB's handling of what is still a tremendous, landmark victory which will result in accessible United States currency.  It won't happen tomorrow or next week, but it will happen and I believe a bit of forebearance and patience is in order.  And, should ACB believe that the Treasury Department is dragging its feet on implementing the Judge's ruling, please be assured that we will strongly and unequivocally communicate this belief through our outstanding attorney, Jeffrey Lovitky.


Sincerely,
Mitch Pomerantz


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