Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation issued its “Follow the Money 2021” report this week. It is not recommended reading for those prone to depression.
It begins with “This last year California once again ranked worst in the nation to do business, according to an annual report by CEO Magazine, and numerous examples of
waste, fraud and abuse totaling billions of taxpayers’ dollars down the drain were
reported by independent investigations.”
California is now expected to be the leading state in screwing its citizens and businesses. Voters, likely suffering from Stockholm syndrome, reward their molesters with a return to power.
Even Silicon Valley is in decline losing 20% of its venture capital investment. Even after Gov. Newsom’s $95 million advertising blitz tourism never has come close to its pre-2019 levels.
The ongoing loss of jobs, businesses and productive citizens has cost the state a Congressional seat and national influence for the first time in its history.
The state can’t even monitor its budget due to failed technology scheduled to come online in 2016. The accounting system is hundreds of millions over budget. Now, here are some specifics on waste, fraud and abuse.
Openthebooks.com reported that 82 - L.A. lifeguards made more than $200,000 each and 7 made over $300,000 in 2019. And State Controller Betty Yee cannot even produce a checkbook or summary of monies spent. Yet most large cities and 49 other states can show a record of expenditures.
Five DMV employees at the Torrance and Lincoln Park offices admitted taking
tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for issuing licenses to unqualified drivers.
A Sacramento Bee investigation found that Governor Newsom’s wife’s nonprofit,
a firm focused on gender equity in film, received $800,000 in donations from companies involved in lobbying the state. The following donor companies also contributed to the Governor’s political activities.
They include PG&E, Kaiser Permanente, AT&T, and Comcast. The Governor denies that the donations to his wife’s nonprofit had any inappropriate influence on his decisions, stating that "There's no correlation, period, full stop. Absolutely none."
The chief executive of the state’s largest union (SEIU) resigned after being charged with numerous crimes including failure to pay her taxes. This union is in favor of higher taxes and gave $6 million to Newsom for his recall fight
In 2019-2020, state and county officials labeled thousands of businesses nonessential, bankrupting them. County medical officers forced millions of healthy workers to go home. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley then asked the director of the Employment Development Department why unemployment was so high. She was baffled saying her “research team” would look into it.
While Californians were threatened to “stay home to save lives” politicians maintained their junkets (Pebble Beach, Australia, Scotland, Portland, and Maui) with lobbyists covering many of the costs to buy influence.
State employees bilked $2.7 million destined to help AIDS patients. The money funded personal travel, cruises, parties, and trips to sporting events. Fake invoices made out to a nonexistent company diverted the money for personal gain.
Democrat Congressman Ted Lieu donated $50,000 of his campaign funds to Stanford University before his son was accepted to attend. The contributions were first exposed by an anonymous Twitter user. The user’s account was then banned by Twitter.
A federal grand jury indicted South L.A. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas on
charges of funneling millions of dollars of contracts to the University of Southern California in exchange for an admission with a full scholarship and a paid professorship for his son. The son, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, is familiar with scandal. He was a State Assembly member accused in the “#metoo” scandal before resigning his seat to become a professor, despite lacking a graduate degree.
Ontario Montclair School Superintendent makes more than $600,000 annually and Sutter-Yuba Behavioral Health psychiatrists are collecting $400,000-$600,000 a year.
Politico revealed that California’s Superintendent of Diversity, a new position paying $180,000 a year, lived in Philadelphia where he ran a private business. The state job was never even posted as he was buddies with the State Superintendent of Schools.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged four men including a former state
senator with stealing $20 million intended for a solar project. One of the individuals
is accused of spending over $8 million of the funds on personal items.
Only 27 percent of Californians who received coronavirus vaccinations used the website
“MyTurn” to schedule appointments due in part to multiple tech glitches. The site failed to list many providers and pharmacies where Californians could be vaccinated. The site hindered people by requiring multiple logins. The $50 million contract to build the site was awarded to Blue Shield of California on a “no bid” basis.
As part of its mad obsession to inject people, the state resorted to bribery using lottery-style payouts and prizes. Ten Californians received $1.5 million each, 30 got $50,000 each, and 2 million people were rewarded with $50 gift cards.
Whistleblowers exposed a COVID-19 test facility for serious problems including lab
techs sleeping while processing samples and test swabs found in bathrooms. State officials initially denied the existence of any problem. They finally acknowledged “serious deficiencies” but still renewed a contract worth $1.7 billion.
A program to build “tiny home villages” in Los Angeles consisting of 64-square-foot (8X8) aluminum and composite sheds. The state paid $130,000 each for the structures, ten times what other cities spent.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that 260 tents San Francisco maintains in six
“sleeping villages” cost the city $5,000 per tent per month, or $60,000 annually. In
addition to tents, the villages provide access to showers and 3-meals a day.
Some complained about the cost. At $5,000 per tent per month, the rent on a luxury apartment would be less, and the rent on an average 1-bedroom apartment in San Francisco would be less than half.
Tragically, there’s more. The entire report can be seen at https://www.hjta.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FTM-2021-FINAL.pdf.
(Lou Binninger can be heard on No Hostages Radio podcast, live on KMYC 1410AM 10-1 Saturdays, read at Live with Lou on Facebook and at Nohostagesradio.comNohostagesradio.com)
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