GOVERNMENT WASTE

- TEXAS -

Date	Individual / State Agency	Who, What, Where?
07/09/04	Social Security	Teachers Work One Day as Janitors to Qualify For Higher Social Security School districts hired retiring teachers for one days work as janitorial assistants so they could meet the one-day requirement on their last day of work. The teachers paid a small fee for the privilege, which in turn helped boost the revenue for the school district. In 2002, over 3,500 people took advantage of the loophole which auditors claim will eventually cost the Social Security system over $450 million.
03/01/05	Dallas County Jail	New Jail Computer System Criticized A new $10 million Dallas County Jail computer system has been severely criticized by county commissioners for poor performance and usability. The complainants include judges, the jailer, and the county clerk and bail bondsmen. A study of the new system has been commissioned that will be accomplished by another vendor, Clearview. The company is very critical of the design provided by the primary contractor.
05/29/05	Dallas	Civil Service Protects 60 Fired Workers In Dallas, Texas, 60 code-enforcement workers were fired, suspended or reprimanded for lying about how much work they actually did. To-date, nearly two-thirds have returned to work, some even getting up to $24,000 in back pay. Their guilt was never an issue but they have been protected by arcane civil service regulations that are prevalent throughout the country. The workers, about one-half the department, were fired when major discrepancies were noted between the bloated reports provided by these workers and actual citations they had written to justify their existence. The Mayor, Laura Miller, stated, "All along the way, there are just glaring problems. The fact that these people have been allowed to go back to work is astonishing." Only in government would this stupidity be permitted.
03/01/06	Department of Criminal Justice	Another Perk of Public Office – Discount Furniture Texas Correctional Industries manufactures, among other things, furniture, signs and clothing. It gives inmates a chance to learn a trade and save state agencies money because with no labor costs, items sell for far less than those from private businesses. State law allows the government-run company to sell to the public, but a longstanding policy Texas Department of Criminal Justice limits personal sales to lawmakers, department employees and board members. One Senator, Eddie Lucio, filled his new dream house with furniture from the company for $6,319. Senator Lucio is one of a dozen lawmakers who have purchased furniture from the company. Representative Vicki Truitt has purchased nine barbecue grills and smokers since 2003. Susan Woodford, Texas director of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, said state lawmakers should have to pay market prices if the items are for personal use since they are not available to all Texas residents. Typical of the mindset of the political class, Representative Tony Goolsby, who spent $1,100 for a replica of a historic desk from the Texas capital, had the chutzpah to say, “We’re all born the same way, but we’re not equal. Everybody gets perks.” Many of his colleagues use campaign funds to buy items at prices far below retail. Rep. Goolsby has spent $12,800 in 2004 and $7,700 in 2005. In 2004, he spent $6,600 on flags and flag boxes for constituents and supporters. He said, “People will display it and appreciate it. Someone is going to see it and maybe vote for me. Everything an elected official does is to get re-elected.”
08/01/06	Dallas Independent School District	FBI Investigating Credit Card Scam at School District Now we know it’s always a good idea to give government employees credit cards. This is somewhat akin to giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. Someone in government had decided, after the Hurricane Katrina disaster, to change the upper limit on FEMA credit cards from $2,500 to $250,000 in theory so government employees could respond quickly to help the ravaged victims. We all have to wonder how much they helped themselves while they were at it. Along those lines, the FBI is investigating the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) for the latest abuses associated with credit card abuse. The FBI has subpoenaed credit card receipts and other supporting documents for the district. The FBI has been investigating DISD for over a year based upon nefarious relationships between school administrators and district vendors. This is not the first time the district has been in hot water. In the late 1990s, an FBI inquiry helped send Superintendent Yvonne Gonzalez to prison and led to indictments of dozens of employees. District employees have made expensive, gratuitous and personal purchases with their district credit cards. 1,300 employees have credit cards that were used for $20 million in purchases. The Dallas News found that at least $6 million in spending violated district purchasing contracts or state law.