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ADDP Transition
Tara Hopper Zeltner headed to
Washington, D.C. 
ADDP is sad to announce that Attorney and Director of Governmental Affairs, Tara Hopper Zeltner, will be leaving ADDP, at the end of January 2015, to work in Washington, D.C. as the Director of Governmental Affairs for ACCSES, a national disability provider organization.
Tara has been an instrumental force in improving ADDP's ability to evaluate and understand the depth of regulatory changes at both the state and federal level. She has also been the eloquent voice for ADDP on Beacon Hill. In her two and one half years with ADDP, our association experienced dramatic and apparelled success including the implementation of Chapter 257 funding, the passage of the National Background Check Bill, the Real Lives Bill and many others.
She also was the author of a significant Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court amicus brief for ADDP and The Arc of Massachusetts that was widely quoted and influenced the Court's decision in our favor.
Tara is licensed to practice law in both Massachusetts and Florida and plans to pursue her license and practice law in Washington, D.C.
ADDP members and staff will miss Tara's contributions and sense of humor as well as her deep devotion to our cause.
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Departing Senators Crucial to State's Progressive Disability Reputation
Earlier this week, Members of the Massachusetts Senate gathered to say goodbye to departing members.
For the disability community the departure of Senators Therese Murray, Steve Brewer, Gayle Candaras and Richard Moore, there will be felt a profound sense of loss as these four members, each honored in recent years as ADDP Senators of the Year, leave the upper chamber.
 Therese Murray, in her role as Senate President and former chair of that chamber's Ways and Means Committee, will be long remembered as the primary supporter of Salary Reserve and her key role in moving human service issues to the top of the legislature's agenda. During her tenure as Senate President, human services in Massachusetts were recognized nationally for innovation and stability.
Steve Brewer, one of the Senate's long  serving members, revered in his local community, stood out as someone who felt deep in his heart the pain, suffering and anguish that families felt when waiting for services in a tight economy. The Chairman of Ways and Means held a profound faith in social justice, exemplified by his quest for treating people in need with dignity and respect. That love extended to honoring the deceased who died on the grounds of Belchertown School, for whom he arranged for head stones to mark their passing and to be further honored each Memorial Day. Meeting with him to discuss budgets often felt more like a symposium in social justice as he taught both staff and advocates present about the Commonwealth's long history of social justice and the need to treat everyone with respect.
 Gayle Candaras, will be forever remembered by our field for being the primary author and guiding force behind Chapter 257, establishing a rate based system that has finally brought new revenue to help direct support worker salaries increase beyond past dismal levels.
And Senator Richard Moore will go
down in the Commonwealth's history for his leadership in extending health care for all. Respected for his expertise and leadership skills he rose above all of the nation's legislators to be the President of the National Conference of State Legislatures. As he leaves, the Chamber loses more institutional knowledge than can be replaced in a generation.
There will be new heroes that will arise in the future. Murray, Brewer, Candaras and Moore leave big shoes to fill.
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