Led by Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, South Carolina lawmakers have spent the last few weeks bitching and moaning about how they have no choice but to fire teachers and let criminals roam free in your neighborhoods – all because Gov. Mark Sanford has yet to accept $740 million of federal bureaucratic bailout money (on top of the $7 billion in federal bureaucratic bailout money our state is already automatically receiving).
Wait … did we just perfectly encapsulate the entire “stimulus” debate?
Of course we did.
Anyway, while the politically-motivated fear-mongering has reached a fever-pitch, nobody in the Palmetto State (except us) is bothering to point out the truth.
Like the fact that our school districts have hundreds of millions stashed away in carry-forward reserve accounts, or the fact that there are literally billions of dollars being spent in this state with absolutely no oversight or accountability.
Or, God forbid, government deal with the current economic recession like every other individual, family and business out there – by making tough choices.
Well, nobody’s pointing these things out except us and the S.C. Policy Council – which continues to do the Lord’s work in exposing just how fraudulent these legislative claims of “fiscal Armageddon” truly are.
This week, the Policy Council unveiled a position paper that – for the first time in decades – begins to explore a vast, unknown wasteland of taxpayer dollars which totals a third of our state’s $21 billion budget.
Specifically, researcher Kevin Dietrich has uncovered a perfect example of how millions of taxpayer dollars are slipping through the cracks in this totally unmonitored, unaccountable $7 billion slush fund known simply as “Other Funds.”
How convenient.
Anyway, Dietrich has uncovered a little gem called the “Senior Center Permanent Improvement Program,” which was created two decades ago to “finance improvements to 74 senior centers through South Carolina.”
From Dietrich’s report:
The SCPIP program is one example of an “other funds” program that illustrates the lack of accountability in the state budget. The program was originally operated through the Office on Aging, which at the time was under the governor’s office and is currently run by the lieutenant governor’s office. SCPIP was created by the legislature in 1991 to finance improvements to 74 senior centers throughout South Carolina. A provision in the FY91-1992 state budget directed $948,000 in “other funds” be allocated to the program through a temporary increase in the bingo license tax. The proviso also directed that the tax be repealed when collections reached $8.8 million.
The 74 original centers were completed in 2000. A competitive grants process that was created to finance specific projects identified by the Senior Citizen Center Survey, was also repealed effective Oct. 1, 1997. However, bingo revenue is still being directed to fund SCPIP projects.
According to the Comptroller General’s office, almost $9.7 million has been spent through the program since 2000. Several grants valued at $350,000 and at least one at $390,000 were awarded for capital projects during that period, according to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office.
The SCPIP fund currently contains another $3 million in the SCPIP Fund. Applications for the latest round of competitive grant funds were due to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office March 31, 2009.
Here’s the kicker – as of this writing, the Lt. Governor’s office isn’t allowed to spend any of this money.
Or to put it another way, there is absolutely no legislative authorization existing anywhere in state law or in the state budget to collect or expend these funds.
In fact, there hasn’t been any authorization for years, and yet the money is still getting doled out like candy.
And while we’re sure RINOcrat budget writers like Sen. Leatherman or House Ways & Means Chairman Dan Cooper are working to “fix” this technicality immediately, that goes directly to our bigger point.
If our straits are truly as dire as Leatherman and others maintain that they are, then lawmakers shouldn’t be pouring millions into programs that technically don’t exist anymore.
Nor should they be creating new programs – like legislative police forces, new taxpayer-funded dental plans, vegetable marketing programs or new “competitive grant” scams – all boondoggles that this 118th S.C. General Assembly is proposing to spend your money on.
You know, while teachers get fired and inmates cruise the cul-de-sac where your kids play.
In other words, if bureaucratic whores like Leatherman – who are directly responsible for growing government by more than 40% in recent years – want to bitch and moan about teachers being fired and inmates running free due to “budget cuts,” then they should stop adding wasteful, unnecessary programs.
They should also explain to us how programs that don’t even exist anymore have millions of dollars just sitting around.
What a scam.
Of course, a “joke” of a budget is what we should expect given the “jokers” in charge of it.
As one of our A. Citizen columns has observed, this is why Leatherman and Cooper must go.
WEB EXTRA
State Program Spends Millions Despite Expired Legislative Authorization
By Just another Joe April 17, 2009 at 11:03 am
This makes me want to puke.
By Andy April 17, 2009 at 11:34 am
BUT THINK OF THE KIDS!!!!
THEY WILL HAVE TO FIRE THE TEACHERS WHO TEACH THE KIDS!!!!
By Pat Hendrix April 17, 2009 at 11:41 am
The think Gov. Sanford should double down. Here we are receiving $1.31 in federal money for every $1.00 paid by SC tax payers. Sanford should send that extra 31 percent back to Washington, and then on to states like California. That’ll show’em.
By rick April 17, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Pat, for once your partialy correct. We should send that 31 percent back to the state taxpayers that paid that in taxes, whether its california, utah, washington…wherever. Those taxes belong to the hard working men and women that earned that 31%.
By Pat Hendrix April 17, 2009 at 2:20 pm
No Rick, I’m usually, though not always, correct. I have the unfortunate position of being the guy who uses facts. Rather than blithely citing erroneous figures from Sean Hannity, I suggest you try Google in the future. It might help you from making silly assertions like only 40 percent of Americans pay taxes (The number is closer to 100 percent – 88 percent pay payroll taxes, too). Or you could invent statistics and make assumptions that anyone that disagrees is on welfare.
By Frank Adams April 17, 2009 at 6:22 pm
A crucial omission is the failure to report that:
1) the researcher’s questions were met with immediate and full due dilligence by the Lt. Governor’s Office,
2) and that after extensive consultations with the Office of Legislative Council, it was concluded that these funds were being handled appropriately, lawfully, and responsibly.
3) It was suggested that the researcher consult the Attorney General’s Office if his in-house legal capabilities were in need of support.
The researcher’s claim that “the 74 original centers were completed in 2000″ is also not accurate.
Frank Adams, Director of Communications, Lt. Governor’s Office
frankadams@scsenate.org
By Garnet Spy April 17, 2009 at 9:48 pm
In a post I wrote in July “Do Public Educators Hate South Carolina’s Children?” I pointed out that South Carolina spends – on an average – over a half a billion dollars ($516,685,102) just on administrator salaries.
http://garnetspy.com/2008/07/17/do-public-educators-hate-south-carolinas-children/
By Mike April 17, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Whoa, look, an exposed nerve…
OK, so the LT Gov didn’t violate the SC FOIA and hide the funds and accounting. That’s commendable, sorta.
Handled appropriately? So there is statutory authority to dispense the funds into that program? In what budget or statute?
In what way is the statement regarding the “74 original centers” inaccurate?
By Fashizzle April 17, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Seriously, Frank? This report cites specific statutes as well as facts and figures. Your idea of a response is “handled appropriately, lawfully, and responsibly?” Produce the statute authorizing the program to spend money — if it exists that should be a simple task.
By Mike April 18, 2009 at 4:51 am
Whoa, look, an exposed nerve…
OK, so the LT Gov didn’t violate the SC FOIA and hide the funds and accounting. That’s commendable, sorta.
Handled appropriately? So there is statutory authority to dispense the funds into that program? In what budget or statute?
In what way is the statement regarding the “74 original centers” inaccurate?
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!
By Bombthrower April 18, 2009 at 7:10 pm
The policy council continues to pound out these useless reports that nobody cares about. the press never picks it up and if they do it is buried on some back page of the newspaper. Most of their reports don’t do anything but prop up the governor. the governor raises most of the money for the policy council anyway, so I guess some reports to prop him up are due to him. will folks is on the payroll of the policy council so its no wonder those horribly researched policy council reports are only mentioned on this blog.
By Hans April 19, 2009 at 4:35 pm
A couple of things come to mind:
1. If a spokesman for the Lt. Governor is speaking, he is lying. They spin spin spin…there is seldom any truth to what they say.
2. The budget process is broken…and Harrel and Leatherman and Bauer like it that way.
3. Don’t count on anyone to take Andre’s slush fun away…they all have them
By Hans April 19, 2009 at 4:42 pm
PS…Where did Bauer spend the $890,000 for 2008-9?
What projects? In what legislative district?
How can I find out?
By Marvin April 21, 2009 at 1:41 am
Bombthrower (a.k.a. WMD): what horribly researched reports? Give some examples. The one that shows the budget is really three times what you guys all say it is? The one that shows one of the programs in the “other funds” that is spent on programs you guys are clueless about doesn’t even have legal authorization to be spent? The report done by Art Laffer that shows stimlulus money will crowd out the private sector and hurt SC jobs? The one that shows our state falls at the bottom in transparent government? Please dissect them one by one. Start with the economists’ report.
Then we’ll take a look at your bosses’ plans and reports. You know what the best one is? The “knowledge sector council” minutes. Now, that’s some smart researching! Read those, plus the promotions campaign for your multi-billion dollar economy. Oh, and go ahead and produce your market-based reserach and analysis on the success rate of those programs, and detail the jobs they’ve created. We are waiting for your “diligent” research. Just post it any time you want, Bomb-boy.
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