Assembly
California Legislature
Genuine Care means Eliminating Waste, Fraud and Abuse
By Assemblywoman Audra Strickland
For exclusive submission to the Ventura County Star
July 17, 2009, Word Count: 704
As our state attempts to solve our current fiscal crisis, legislators in Sacramento grapple to find the best use of your limited tax dollars. A quote that has been repeated more than a few times in the Capitol is one said by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and it bears repeating here.
“It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” - Hubert H. Humphrey
It is truly shameful what we are doing to our children, the elderly, the poor and the disabled. Our state legislature is poised to cut funding to education, foster care, Medi-Cal and programs that help the disabled while at the same time protecting billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse.
Our state budget is a reflection of our priorities. If children, the elderly and the disabled are our highest priority, then programs that help them should be protected first and foremost.
Instead, the legislature protects their political friends, who are appointed to $100,000 a year jobs and are only required to work one or two days a month. There are hundreds of state boards and commissions like the California Medical Board and the University of California Board of Regents, whose members do valuable work for our state and only get paid a per diem for their time.
It is time to eliminate the salaries of boards and commissions like the Integrated Waste Management Board, whose members are not required to have any expertise but are paid exorbitant six-figure salaries. These abusive salaries exist so that powerful political leaders in Sacramento can use your tax dollars to pay their political debts.
Additionally, to show that we truly care for the needy, we need to stop those who defraud our welfare system. That is why I introduced Assembly Bills 1193 and 631. These measures implement a welfare fraud prevention plan patterned after a successful 10 year old San Diego County program.
“Project 100 Percent” is run by the San Diego County District Attorney’s office where they verify the information given by new welfare recipients. They have found that in any given year 20-25% of new recipients defraud the state.
Because of the program, San Diego has been able to save $78 million in 2008 through the proper adjustment or elimination of unwarranted benefits. With San Diego County accounting for about 5% of the state’s welfare rolls, over time California can expect to save around $1.5 billion annually by implementing the San Diego County “Project 100 Percent” statewide.
Not only are Sacramento politicians tolerating fraud over the needy but our students are also among the first to suffer for our budget crisis. Recent news about the current status of our state college and university system is disheartening. We are balancing our state budget on the backs of students just as they prepare a firm foundation for the rest of their lives.
College tuition will be dramatically increased, causing many students to drop out or unnecessarily extend their college careers. Fewer students will be accepted than in previous years and fewer courses will be offered. And yet, liberal politicians in the Capitol continue to give free or discounted tuition to adults, who break our federal laws to enter this country.
I have introduced legislation to allow voters to decide if we should require proof of legal residency before an adult receives any state portion of taxpayer funded benefits. If approved, this would save the state billions of dollars. Ignoring the needs of our children and students and protecting those who stay here unlawfully, these measures are voted down by those who control the legislature.
Our state budget is a reflection of our priorities. The time has long passed when it was appropriate to eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse; today it is critical. Now more than ever it is essential to place the needs of children, the elderly, the needy and the disabled ahead of those who defraud the government, are political friends, and break our laws.
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http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.venturacountystar.com%2Fnews%2F2009%2Fjul%2F21%2Foa15fclets21%2F&h=93fb5eaa2f8dc9650c4f8ec7f66ede45Your letters: July 21, 2009Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Fraud and abuse, indeed
Re: Audra Strickland’s July 19 article, “Genuine care means eliminating waste, fraud, abuse in government”:
Poor Audra has been out in the Sacramento heat too much and cannot remember which political party she must be an advocate for full time.I detect a real Democratic theme in this recent missive. Or maybe she has looked at the shifting political demographics for Ventura County and has concluded that she might have to run a more politically centered campaign next time. At any rate, she needs a reality check.If Strickland wants to fund all the programs she mentioned for children and the poor that are in danger of being cut due to the state revenue shortfall, she needs more money than she can generate by eliminating a few board and commission positions with six-figure salaries. She needs more than one-shot ideas. She and the rest of her Republican colleagues need to propose a total budget that addresses the shortfall while meeting their party’s stated priorities.Through this entire shortfall eliminating process, all she and her party have done is say “no” to anything the Democrats propose. Strickland needs to give us a Republican-generated budget proposal that eliminates the shortfall and meets her party priorities. She needs to end the crisis with some innovation.And, by the way, if memory serves correctly, it was the governor, Strickland’s party standard-bearer, who recently filled a number of those vacant commission and board six-figure salary positions. I agree there are a number of these positions that are a waste and should be eliminated.Again, if I recall correctly, the governor, when newly elected, promised to eliminate these wasteful positions. What happened?As to fraud: If Strickland has identified fraud, she should take it to a prosecutor or the attorney general, but she should stop talking about it every time she writes something for the newspaper.As to abuse: The only abuse I see is what Strickland, along with the rest of the Legislature and the governor, is doing to the citizens of California who elected her to represent us and provide us with good governance. All of them are truly abusing the trust we placed in them.— Jim Engel, Moorpark
------------------------------------------------------------------------Abuse is what “The Star” did by taking out 200 of the 700 words Ms. Strickland wrote in her original editorial. Talk about political agendas…I believe when our Founding Fathers established Freedom of the Press, their intentions were not to give the media the power to manipulate an individual’s personal opinion. Also, I find it ironic that Mr. Engel, along with so many others, makes these ongoing budget debates solely about political parties. Shouldn’t waste, fraud, and abuse be a non-partisan problem?! I’m sorry, but even though eliminating state boards and commissions “only” generates millions of dollars, those are millions of dollars that can be used to keep teachers and firefighters from losing their jobs. I am sick and tired of hearing that Republicans do not care about the poor, elderly and disabled. I am fed up with the assumption that because we say “No!” to stealing money from taxpayers that we are somehow stealing from the needy. I’d like to recall Ms. Strickland’s infamous floor speech, in which she called out her colleagues on the other side of the isle in the Assembly for mixing up their priorities and supporting a fraudulent budget package. Not all Californian’s may realize who it is up here in Sacramento that is truly fighting for the citizens of this great state…but I do. And I’m thankful to work for her.
Stephanie Breed
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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