In a recent post, I discussed a study done by the Center for Public Integrity which found State Government agencies at a high risk for fraud, waste, and abuse.
One of the major reasons for such corruption at the state level is, as I said there, the fact that state government agencies operate with more or less no oversight. I contrasted this with the federal model, and the oversight Congress exercises over federal agencies.
And this week Washington is being treated to a great example of such oversight. I am referring to the Congressional hearings on the GSA Scandal that broke very recently.
The extravagance and waste included a mind reader and fortune teller — oops, sorry, the politically correct term is “mentalist” — who, despite being paid an extravagant sum, completely failed to predict the disaster that was about to strike GSA.
Note, the picture above is not the mentalist hired to entertain GSA big-wigs, that is House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) who is one of the good guys trying to clean this mess up.
To add insult to injury, this video — made with taxpayer dollars, during working hours, by some diligent public servants who correctly named it “American Idle” — surfaced.
So yes, it may well be the case that Congressional oversight of government agencies is better than no oversight, but all of this nonsense occurred even with such oversight.
Now, fellow Americans and state taxpayers, if this sort of nonsense can happen in a federal government agency which is overseen by Congress, think about what happens in your State government agencies, which don’t have to worry about oversight.
And that is why each and every state needs a full false claims act — individual qui tam relators and their lawyers can’t clean up state government agencies, but qui tam cases often shed light on weaknesses in state government programs and expenditures.