Mitt Romney Loves For-Profit Colleges/ Student Loan Mill Scams! (Video)

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Obama Returns Focus To The War On Jobs; Unemployment Rate 10.1%

President Obama Pivots To Jobs As Key Theme


President Barack Obama on Friday is making his promised hard pivot to Jobs, following up the morning’s release of December Unemployment figures with an East Room announcement at 2:40 p.m. ET about stimulus dollars going to clean-tech jobs.

A White House official said: “The President will announce new Recovery Act funding for clean technology manufacturing jobs. The funds will be awarded to deserving projects that will support tens of thousands of high quality clean energy jobs and the domestic manufacturing of advanced clean energy technologies including solar, wind and efficiency and energy management technologies.”

Also, the White House is expected to focus on events on the economy next week.

The president will be pushing Congress to pass several new jobs measures that he’ll be rolling out in the run-up to his State of the Union address, likely in early February.

The key elements were foreshadowed in a Dec. 8 speech at the Brookings Institution: Infrastructure improvements, green jobs and small-business incentives for hiring and investment. All that will fit into a middle-class agenda that is designed to boost Democratic congressional candidates in a dicey political environment.

As the second part of a one-two administration economic punch, Attorney General Eric Holder has chosen Palm Beach — ground zero for Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme – for a major speech at lunchtime today setting out a marker that financial security will be a priority, in addition to national security.

This is the most specific the attorney general been about his determination to target mortgage, security, and bailout and stimulus fraud.

From the attorney general’s prepared remarks, to be delivered at 12:15 p.m. in West Palm Beach, to the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches:

“In times of recession, when every dollar counts and each dollar is counted, financial wrongdoing comes to light. Unbalanced books are revealed. Pyramid schemes collapse. We need a bold strategy equal to the challenge – a comprehensive, coordinated plan of action that strikes at the core of financial fraud schemes wherever they may be found.

This is precisely what our new, national effort will accomplish. The Department of Justice, working in concert with the White House and a network of government agencies, will use every tool at our disposal – including new resources, advanced technologies and communications capabilities, and the very best talent we have – to prevent, prosecute, and punish financial fraud.

“The cornerstone of this work is a new, Interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. This Task Force was established by Executive Order of the President. It was launched in December and is led by the Department of Justice.

At the core of the Task Force’s mission is a more robust and strategic law enforcement effort. Through this effort, critical information will be shared in real time across the federal government – and with our state and local law enforcement partners – so that we can stop fraud schemes in their tracks.

We will focus on four key types of financial crime:

Mortgage Fraud) — from the simplest of ‘flip’ schemes to systematic lending fraud in our nationwide housing market;

Securities Fraud) – from traditional insider trading,

Ponzi Schemes):, Ex: Accounting fraud, to misrepresentations to investors;

Recovery Act and Rescue Fraud) – including the theft of federal stimulus funds and the illegal use of taxpayer dollars intended to shore up our financial institutions; and Financial discrimination – including predatory lending practices in minority communities and the sale of financial products that exploit the elderly and disadvantaged.”



December 2009 Unemployment Rate 10.1% ;Economy Sheds More Jobs Than Expected


The economy lost more jobs than expected in December while the unemployment rate held steady at 10 percent, as a sluggish economic recovery has yet to revive hiring among the nation's employers.

The Labor Department said Friday that employers cut 85,000 jobs last month, worse than the 8,000 drop analysts expected.

A sharp drop in the labor force, a sign more of the jobless are giving up on their search for work, kept the unemployment rate at the same rate as in November. Once people stop looking for jobs, they are no longer counted among the unemployed.

When discouraged workers and part-time workers who would prefer full-time jobs are included, the so-called "underemployment" rate in December rose to 17.3 percent, from 17.2 percent in October. That's just below a revised figure of 17.4 percent in October, the highest on records dating from 1994.

Revisions to the previous two months' data showed the economy actually generated 4,000 jobs in November, the first gain in nearly two years. But the revisions showed it also lost 16,000 more jobs than previously estimated in October.

The report caps a disastrous year for U.S. workers. Employers cut 4.2 million jobs in 2009, and the unemployment rate averaged 9.3 percent. That's compared to an average of 5.8 percent in 2008 and 4.6 percent in 2007. The economy has lost more than 8 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

Most economists worry that 2010 won't be much better. Federal Reserve officials, in a meeting last month, anticipated that unemployment will decline "only gradually," according to minutes of the meeting released earlier this week. The Fed and most private economists expect the unemployment rate will remain above 9 percent through the end of this year.


Sources: Politico, MSNBC

Todd Platts (Rep.) Vies For GAO Top Spot...Eliminate Public Corruption

Bi-partisan support for Republican lawmaker Platts to lead GAO


Rep. Todd Platts (R-Pa.) is getting plenty of support from his House colleagues in his quest for the top spot at the General Accountability Office (GAO).

Platts has interviewed for the office of comptroller general of the United States, the top GAO post, The Hill first reported earlier this week. Platts’ bid for the watchdog job has attracted the support of 111 of his House colleagues, including 38 Democrats.

“Our support is based upon our personal observations of Mr. Platts’ character, his work ethic, and the thoroughly professional manner in which he has met his responsibilities as a United States Representative,” the members wrote in a letter to the commission that selects candidates.

In the letter, his colleagues tout Platts’s credentials, calling him an “active and diligent” member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee who has “repeatedly demonstrated a genuine commitment to enhancing the performance of federal government operations, maximizing government accountability and transparency, and ensuring the responsible expenditure of federal funds.”

The Democrats who signed the letter include such senior members as Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (Mass.), Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (Texas) and Rep. John Murtha (Pa.), chairman of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee.

He also received strong support from the Pennsylvania Democratic delegation -- Reps. Paul Kanjorksi, Mike Doyle, Tim Holden, Jason Altmire and Christoper Carney -- and Democrats who sit on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Stephen Lynch (Mass.), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) and Brian Higgins (N.Y.).

Platts is one of 18 candidates seeking the comptroller general position. A congressional commission made up of five Republicans and five Democrats in the House and Senate winnows the candidates to at least three names and forwards them to President Barack Obama, who will make the final choice. It then must be approved by the Senate. Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) also leads the comptroller general selection commission. In his application letter, Platts noted his close work with Towns on the panel’s government management, organization and procurement subcommittee.

For now, Platts has said he plans to run for re-election unless he is selected for the post. If that occurs, there would be a special election to fill his seat, which is considered safe Republican territory.

It is not clear when the commission will make its selections and forward them to the president. The commission began considering candidates in April but the process usually takes months to complete.


Sources: The Hill, GAO, Wikipedia

NASA: Its Future Lies In White House's Hands

White House panel questions NASA's spending. A blue ribbon, White House panel on space travel is raising doubts over whether only the government can keep financing NASA. NBC's Chris Clackum reports.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

NASA's Moon plans questioned.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

NASA invites Twitter users to next launch.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Countdown begins for NASA's uncertain future


Is America's space effort due for a major course correction? Or is staying the course and sticking with NASA's five-year-old plan to return to the moon the best strategy?

In the wake of an independent panel's report on future spaceflight, the answers to those big questions about the nation's next giant leap ... or smaller step ... in outer space are now being debated in the White House and on Capitol Hill. And although projecting the outcome is murky business at best, the countdown is ticking down toward multibillion-dollar decisions that need to be made.

In short, the gearheads have had their say. Now it's up to the politicians.

If it were up to the gearheads — that is, the review panel headed by retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine — the space effort would likely be in for an extreme makeover. Although their mission was only to lay out the options for future exploration, rather than recommend which option to take, the way the options were framed in their 155-page report suggested a dramatically different path for NASA:

* The space agency would give more consideration to buying rides into low Earth orbit on other people's spaceships, and give more thought to its own Ares I rocket project, which went through a largely successful test flight last week.

* The International Space Station and the space shuttle fleet, which a now-departed NASA chief once said were serious mistakes, would be given a reprieve — and the station would remain America's main base in space for the next decade.

* The long-term goal of exploration would shift from a high-tech replay of the Apollo moon effort to an incremental program with different, lower-gravity destinations, such as near-Earth asteroids or Martian moons.

"We have identified, I think, a relatively new approach ... to conducting a spaceflight program somewhat different than what's in the current plan," Augustine told reporters when the final report was released on Oct. 22.

That wasn't necessarily the takeaway for the politicians, however. In Congress, the influential players in space policy tend to come from places where the jobs are. The prevailing view among those player was that $3 billion a year in additional funding would fix what ails the current space program, and that no further course correction was necessary.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson — a Florida Democrat who flew on the space shuttle and helped persuade President Barack Obama to give NASA's top spot to his former mission commander, Charles Bolden — said the president assured him "NASA will get enough money to do what it does best: go explore the heavens."

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — an Arizona Democrat who is married to an astronaut and chairs the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee — said the report confirmed her view that the Ares rocket project and other aspects of NASA's Constellation program were "well-managed" and "executable" as long as enough resources were provided.

Giffords cited last week's Ares I-X prototype test flight as further confirmation that NASA was "on track with its human space exploration program."

So should NASA stay the course, or change course?

Fertile ground for disagreement

"If what was wanted out of the Augustine exercise was clarity, we didn't get it," said John Logsdon, a space policy expert at George Washington University. "In the process of arriving at and analyzing the various options, the committee created fertile ground for disagreement."

However, the report did deliver at least three important conclusions that are largely beyond dispute, Logsdon told msnbc.com. The first conclusion? "We got the statement that 'the emperor has no clothes,'" he said. "The program that was being carried out could not be successful with the budget profile that was assigned to it."

NASA currently receives about $18 billion per year, or roughly 0.5 percent of the total federal budget. But the Augustine panel estimated that the space agency's plan to return to the moon by 2020 would cost at least $145 billion, which is $45 billion more than originally projected. At the same time, the amount budgeted for space exploration has actually been below the original projections. That's what led the committee to say NASA was on an "unsustainable trajectory."

Logsdon said the report also made clear that NASA's space shuttles couldn't safely finish up their remaining missions by next October as scheduled, and that the schedule would likely have to be stretched out into 2011. And the third point was that "it makes no sense to shut down the space station after five years of operation," even though NASA's current plan calls for quitting the orbital outpost in 2015.

The key point of disagreement focuses on where NASA goes next, and how it gets there.

Ares I in the Spotlight

The Augustine report dwelled on private-sector options for getting to destinations in low Earth orbit, such as the space station. Those options include upgraded versions of existing rockets currently used for commercial and military launches, such as the Delta 4 and the Atlas 5. They also include SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus 2, which are currently being developed with NASA support to transport cargo to the space station.

Such options are already being considered in parallel with NASA's $6 billion Ares I development effort. In fact, this month NASA is due to award $50 million in stimulus funds for adapting commercial rockets to carry astronauts. So if NASA goes the commercial route, why should it bother building Ares I?

The Augustine report raises questions about Ares I, saying that the rocket is unlikely to be crew-worthy until 2017 or later. By that time, commercial options might be available for getting to the space station in low Earth orbit, Ares I's prime destination, and thus the project suffered from "a mismatch with the programs it is intended to serve," the report said.

Some panel members said NASA might be better-served by moving directly to the development of a more powerful "Ares V Lite," which would mesh more easily with heavy-lift missions to go beyond Earth orbit. One of the members, XCOR Aerospace's Jeff Greason, said it was his "personal opinion" that commercial rockets would provide a better value than Ares when it came to reaching low Earth orbit.

Others, however, were wary about disrupting what they considered a successful Ares I program. "I personally want to see Ares I going and the program going as it's currently structured," said retired Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles, a panel member who was on the rumored list of prospects for NASA administrator early this year.

Last week's Ares I-X test cost an estimated $445 million, but the Augustine report estimated that the cost of a full-up Ares I launch would be about $1 billion — comparable to the cost of a shuttle launch, or roughly 10 times the cost of an Atlas or Delta launch. But Ares' proponents say that the NASA-led program would result in a safer and more reliable rocket than the commercial alternatives — and that the extra margin of safety is worth the extra cost.

"There are aspects of our safety culture which do increase costs," Wayne Hale, a former shuttle program manager who is now NASA's deputy associate administrator for strategic partnerships, said last month at a spaceflight conference in New Mexico. "To make it will be expensive. It will not be cheap."

The Political Pros and Cons

Will the politicians be persuaded to stick with Ares I, along with the other elements of the back-to-the-moon Constellation program? The members of Congress closest to the space effort are likely to argue for staying the course. If last week's launch had gone seriously wrong, that almost certainly would have spelled the end of the program. As it is, Ares' fans have a success to point to, and Ares' foes have been left to grumble about the relatively few flaws seen during the test flight.

Bigger questions about cost vs. benefit remain, however. Just this week, The Orlando Sentinel editorialized that it was time to "pull the plug on Ares" despite last week's success. The newspaper pointed out that the Augustine panel as well as the Government Accountability Office projected that developing the Ares system and other elements of the Constellation flight system would cost billions more than NASA has estimated.

"NASA and its friends will be hard-pressed to persuade the president and lawmakers outside of districts with Ares jobs to pump billions more into a rocket panned by a presidential panel and the GAO," the editorial predicted.

Greason acknowledged that the jobs issue played a role in the debate over Ares but insisted that employment shouldn't be the main issue. "To put it brutally, this trade to my mind is a trade between a space program and a jobs program," he said.

Even NASA's commercial partners are hedging their bets: Brian Duffy, a former astronaut and Lockheed Martin executive who is overseeing the development of NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle, hinted that a space trip on Ares may not be strictly necessary. The Orion craft "will be capable of riding on whatever launch vehicle is provided," he said at the New Mexico space conference.

Deadlines for decisions

So when will Ares' fate become clear? Logsdon said the first definitive signals could come a few weeks from now, once Congress passes an omnibus spending bill that applies to NASA. The space agency would then have to indicate how much of the current fiscal year's budget is to go toward Ares I development — or not.

"The next question is whether the president is going to identify himself with any decision [on space policy], either separately or in the State of the Union Address," Logsdon said. Back in 2004, then-President George W. Bush heralded the back-to-the-moon plan during a high-profile speech at NASA Headquarters. It remains to be seen whether Obama will do something similar for his own space vision.

Further signals should come in early February, when the White House traditionally issues its spending plan for the next fiscal year. "At least some of the decisions have to be reflected in the 2011 budget," Logsdon said. But even after the budget is announced, NASA and the White House are likely to launch more detailed studies into the options for future space exploration.

Ultimately, it's up to President Barack Obama to lay out his own vision for America's place on the final frontier — and then hope that future policymakers will stay the course once he's out of office.

"I remain guardedly optimistic," Logsdon said. "Mr. Obama has given every indication that he wants a program that is inspirational in character, which means human spaceflight and eventual exploration. But he's facing an extremely tough challenge. It's not as big as what to do in Afghanistan, but in our parochial sector it's a big challenge."



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Sources: MSNBC, BNET, Google Maps

Debt Collection Reform: We Need It Now!

Calling the Debt Collectors on Abuse

People dread getting calls from bill collectors. And it's not always because they can't pay. It can be a degrading experience, especially with third-party collectors who are overly aggressive, even threatening.

A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for major reform to the law that governs how companies collect old debt from consumers.

The reform can't come soon enough. Debt defaults are at the highest level in 18 years. About 6.6 percent of credit card holders were 30 days or more past due in the first quarter of 2009. In 2008, credit issuers had more than $23 billion in unsecured debt that was between 30 and 180 days delinquent.

There are many scrupulous debt collectors that compassionately work with borrowers to get them to repay what they owe. But there are also bottom-feeders in the industry that resort to any means necessary, harassing and intimidating consumers to pay up on accounts for which the collectors have paid pennies on the dollar.

It's the dreadful players in this industry and their often illegal practices that was the subject of the GAO report on the effectiveness of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, which was enacted in 1977. The law, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, dictates how third-party debt-collection companies can communicate with debtors. It prohibits the companies from using unfair, abusive or deceptive practices. The FDCPA does not apply to creditors collecting on their own accounts.

"With the economy in crisis and many people struggling to pay their bills, debt collectors have responded by becoming more aggressive," Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), said in a prepared statement after the release of the GAO report. "Debt collection abuses are not getting the attention they should." The FTC reports that it receives more complaints about debt collectors than it does on any other specific industry. Among the most common complaints are excessive telephone calls, collectors misrepresenting the amount or legal status of a debt, and the addition of unauthorized fees and interest to accounts. People also complain that collectors try to get them to pay debts that have been discharged in bankruptcy -- an action that is against the law.

Last year, the FTC said it won the largest civil penalty ever -- $2.25 million -- in a case in which a company, among many other actions, physically threatened people and made unauthorized withdrawals from consumer bank accounts.

With a surge in companies trying to collect past-due debts, it's vital that federal and state laws adequately protect borrowers from dishonest debt collectors.

The FTC has already begun investigating what changes are needed. Although some sections of the FDCPA have been amended, it hasn't been substantially revised since its enactment 32 years ago.

On Dec. 4 in Washington, the agency is scheduled to hold the third in a series of roundtable discussions examining the treatment of consumers by debt collectors. The meeting is open to the public and can also be viewed live via a webcast. For more information about the roundtable, go to http://www.ftc.gov and search for "Debt Collection: Protecting Consumers." In February, the FTC issued its own report recommending that the regulations covering debt collection be improved. Chief among the concerns for both the FTC and the GAO is the way that debts are verified as old accounts are passed around.

When consumers become seriously delinquent, their original creditors may give up trying to collect. The creditors may then sell the debt as a way to make something on the accounts.

The accounts can then be resold so many times that it becomes hard to verify that the debt actually belongs to the person the collectors say it does, or that it was discharged in a bankruptcy case. Third-party debt collectors may not have access to or copies of billing statements, credit card agreements or applications, and other documents to verify a debt is owed.

The FTC and the GAO say Congress should modify the law to require collectors and debt buyers to disclose the original creditor; break down the debt by principal, total interest and fees; and inform consumers of certain rights they already have under the FDCPA.

What's in the law now?

If a consumer disputes a collection action in writing, the collector must prove what is owed. But here is where the law is seriously flawed. The statute isn't clear on what constitutes proof.

It's time to fix this gaping loophole, which should have been closed long ago.

Sources: Washington Post

North Carolina Busted By The GAO For Medicaid Fraud (Again)...Health Care Reform Watch

GAO report: Millions in fraud, drug abuse clogs Medicaid


As Congress debates the government's role in health care, a report out Wednesday finds that state and federal officials failed to detect millions of dollars in Medicaid prescription drug abuse.

An audit of the government program in five large states found about 65,000 instances of beneficiaries improperly obtaining potentially addictive drugs at a cost of about $65 million during 2006 and 2007 — including thousands of prescriptions written for dead patients or by people posing as doctors.

The report, by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), represents "an enormous opportunity to save money," says Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on the findings.

When bills for the doctors' visits are added, along with the potential for Medicaid fraud in states not reviewed by the GAO audit, Carper said: "We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars."

That could be good news for President Obama, who argues that a massive expansion of health care coverage can be funded by squeezing waste out of the current system. But as Pres. Obama continues to press for a government-run health insurance plan, the GAO report also reveals shortcomings in how the government manages Medicaid. The program for low-income and disabled Americans, run jointly by states and the federal government, underwrote more than $23 billion in drug costs last year.

The GAO audit focused on 10 types of frequently abused prescription drugs — painkillers and mood-altering medications. Abuse of such medications is "second only to marijuana," Joseph Rannazzisi of the Drug Enforcement Administration says in prepared testimony for the hearing.

A well-known example is the death of pop star Michael Jackson, which was ruled a homicide in August after revelations that the singer had pressed his personal physician to prescribe powerful sedatives to help him sleep.

The states targeted by the GAO — California, Illinois, New York, North Carolina and Texas — accounted for 40% of Medicaid's prescription drug payments in fiscal years 2006 and 2007. They are not fully taking advantage of federal databases or technology that could spot fraud, the report said.

The GAO found:

• About 65,000 cases where Medicaid beneficiaries visited six or more doctors and up to 46 different pharmacies to acquire prescriptions — a practice known as "doctor-shopping" that allows purchasers to exceed the legal limit of drugs.

• Sixty-five doctors or pharmacists writing or filling prescriptions after being banned from Medicaid, some for illegally selling such drugs.

• About 1,800 prescriptions written for dead patients and 1,200 prescriptions "written" by dead physicians.

States are working to prevent Medicaid prescription abuse but there are "significant issues that must be addressed," Ann Kohler, director of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors, says in testimony prepared for the hearing. One obstacle she identified: tight state budgets that are slowing needed information-technology improvements.




North Carolina Must Repay Feds $300 Mil For Medicaid "Billing Errors" (Fraud)

-It took the state months to notice that one of its Medicaid funds was flush with money, but employees couldn't figure out why.

Now, because of a huge accounting error, North Carolina must repay the federal government about $300 million for taking too much for public hospital services.

The state will pay back $200 million by the end of this month, and will repay the rest during the next 11 months, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Medicaid is the federal government's health insurance program for the poor and disabled. The state received about $7.5 billion in federal Medicaid money last year. Though the federal government pays most of the costs, the state picks up about one-third of the expenses.

The mistake was triggered in November, when a state worker sent the department's controller's office incorrect information on how much money hospitals should take from the federal government and how much they should take from the state account, said Lanier Cansler, DHHS secretary.

State workers noticed the Medicaid account was out of whack about March, but couldn't find the source of the problem, Cansler said. The state discovered the mistake at the end of June as it prepared to make more changes to Medicaid billing formulas, and told the federal government about it.

The $200 million can be repaid almost immediately because the state has unspent money in the account hospitals were supposed to be tapping, Cansler said.

The $300 million mistake comes at a sensitive time for Gov. Beverly Perdue, as she pushes for tax increases to cover a budget that is nearly a month overdue. Earlier this week, the governor upended budget negotiations, saying she could not support a budget with an income tax surcharge and a drop in per pupil education spending.

In a statement, Perdue said she told Cansler and the state's new Medicaid director, Craigan L. Gray, to make correcting the problem a top priority. She said she wants a report on disciplinary actions.

"While this problem may have originated prior to my term as Governor, the circumstances under which it was made and perpetuated are simply unacceptable," she said.

Perdue said Friday she ordered DHHS to tell the state budget office if its Medicaid accounts are more than 2 percent off projections and submit a report explaining the cause.

This isn't the first time the state has lost the handle on Medicaid payments. DHHS was criticized in a recent legislative report for losing track of how much Medicaid money it was spending on a community mental health program that peaked at more than $100 million a month soon after it started.

New computers coming

A key to better monitoring Medicaid money, Cansler said, is a computer system that will be installed in four months that will let users know quickly how much money is being withdrawn from accounts and where it's going. It will replace a system that Cansler called "old and outdated."

The computer system will cost about $500,000, and the federal government will pay about 90 percent, he said.

After discovering the mistake, DHHS and the state budget office checked all of the department's federal accounts and will examine them each month for problems, Cansler said.

"It raises confidence issues in my mind about everything," he said. "We didn't find anything else. We will continue to look at everything like that and how we can strengthen controls."

Not being run very well

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, said the state should have been taking such care with its accounts all along.

"You would think there would be internal audit procedures and internal review procedures," he said. "This is just one more indication that our state is not being run very well."

In the past, the state has been asked to repay Medicaid because of incorrect payments to hospitals.

In 2006, the state and 51 hospitals had to repay the federal government $151.5 million in excess Medicaid payments made over six years. The hospitals paid $91.5 million and the state was responsible for the rest.

A two-year investigation found that the state mistakenly claimed too much money through a federal program designed to subsidize hospitals for their care of poor patients.



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Sources: USA Today, GAO, Whitehouse.gov, Charlotte Observer, News & Observer, US Dept of HHS Inspector General, DEA, Health Reform.gov, National Association of State Medicaid Directors, Allbusiness.com, Wikipedia, Google Maps

Charlotte Police & DSS Failed To Protect Black Foster Care Teen Now She's Dead!...Where's The Tired NAACP?

Charlotte Observer----


Charlotte Police knew slain teen might have been raped

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police knew for more than seven weeks that 15-year-old Tiffany Wright might have been the victim of statutory rape, but they didn't charge her alleged assailant until the pregnant teen was shot dead Monday.

Social workers reported to police on July 27 that Royce Mitchell might have sexually assaulted Tiffany, but police said they waited nearly four weeks to make any contact with Mitchell. A police official says a detective called Mitchell Aug. 20 and asked him to come in for an interview, but Mitchell declined.

Investigators never visited Mitchell or picked him up for questioning, but phoned him “multiple times,” said Capt. Pete Davis, who heads the sexual assault unit.

Mitchell, 36, was charged Monday with statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with a child, and police said Tiffany was the victim of those crimes. Mitchell is also being questioned as a “person of interest” in Tiffany's homicide, police said.

The Hawthorne High junior, who was eight months pregnant, was shot in the head about 6 a.m. Monday as she waited for her school bus in her middle-income neighborhood off Mallard Creek Road in the Derita area.

Police also are looking into whether Mitchell is the father of Tiffany's child, who was saved by doctors Monday at Carolinas Medical Center. The baby was in critical condition Monday, but the hospital would not update her status Tuesday.

Tiffany was adopted into Royce Mitchell's family by his mother, Alma Wright. But she died in late January and the minor teen was left without a home.

Court records show Mitchell – who served time in federal prison for a drug crime – was awarded temporary legal guardianship of Tiffany in February. It's unclear whether court officials were aware of his criminal history.

But Tiffany was soon sent to foster care, after Mitchell failed a home study by DSS.

Police said they waited weeks to contact Mitchell about the rape allegation because they didn't believe Tiffany was in danger. She had been placed in a foster home, away from Mitchell, and there were no reports of threats against her, Davis said.

Sexual assault detectives are working 25 cases or more at a time and are strapped for time and resources, Davis said.

“If we had felt her life was in danger … that is the barometer we use,” he said. “It's not like it was the only case they're investigating.”

Police declined to say whether Tiffany was cooperating in the rape investigation.

North Carolina law defines statutory rape as having sex with a 13-, 14- or 15-year-old child who is at least six years younger than the accused.

Mecklenburg Department of Social Services wouldn't comment on the case or confirm whether Tiffany was ever in foster care.

But Davis said that on July 27, DSS told police that Tiffany had been raped and that Mitchell had sex with the underage teen twice.

Tiffany spent her early childhood in Buffalo, where she was born, and entered the foster care system at age 2 when her mother lost or gave up custody, according to Tiffany's cousin Brittany Page, 20.

At some point, Tiffany was adopted by Alma Wright and she became Tiffany Wright.

Page said she and her family in Buffalo lost contact with Tiffany until last year, when she reconnected with Tiffany on MySpace.com.

Court records show Alma Wright died Jan. 25 and that Tiffany moved into Royce Mitchell's house.

Five days after his mother's death, Mitchell asked the court to make him Tiffany's legal guardian. On Feb. 5, the court granted Mitchell temporary custody “for the purpose of enrolling Tiffany Wright in school, and to guard against any problem in obtaining medical care for Tiffany Wright.”

Assistant Clerk of Superior Court Frederick Benson ordered a home study before a permanent guardian was appointed.

Page says Tiffany confided in her that she'd gone to live with a “foster brother” but didn't name him. Tiffany wasn't happy with living with him, her cousin told the Observer Tuesday. “The only thing she told me was that they didn't get along,” Page said.

In June or July, Page said she learned Tiffany had been placed back into foster care. Tiffany's foster mother didn't allow her to talk to Page or other family members, Page said.

Page said she hadn't talked with Tiffany since she re-entered the foster care system. But in June, when they last spoke, Tiffany said she was pregnant and positive.

“She was happy,” said Page. “She was excited to have this baby. She wanted to be a good mother, something she never had.”





Murdered Pregnant student's baby delivered, still critical

A Charlotte man accused of raping his adopted teenage sister turned himself in Monday and was being questioned in connection with her shooting death at a school bus stop, police said.

Royce Anthony Mitchell, 36, is a “person of interest” in the slaying of Tiffany Wright, 15, in north Charlotte, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman.

Tiffany, who was eight months pregnant and living in a foster home, was shot about 6 a.m. Monday while waiting to catch the bus to Hawthorne High School.

Medics rushed her to Carolinas Medical Center, where doctors were able to deliver her baby girl. Tiffany died at the hospital, and the baby was listed in critical condition.

Police issued warrants Monday against Mitchell for statutory rape and indecent liberties with a minor, based on their investigation into Tiffany's death. A police spokesman said Tiffany had been adopted into the Mitchell family, and was the victim of the alleged sex crimes.

Police were at Mitchell's home late Monday, as homicide detectives questioned him at police headquarters. Police also said they're looking into whether Mitchell is the father of Tiffany's baby.

Records show Mitchell has no criminal record in North Carolina. In 2008, his wife took out a restraining order against Mitchell, alleging domestic violence, but the case was dismissed.

Federal prison records show a Royce Mitchell, age 36, had been sentenced in 2002 to six years in prison for conspiring to sell drugs in Buffalo, N.Y. Charlotte police couldn't confirm whether that was the same man charged in Monday's case, but records show Mitchell previously lived in Buffalo.

Accounts in the Buffalo News in 2003 said Royce Mitchell was a quarterback for the semi-professional Buffalo Lancers football team before being busted on federal drug charges.

Mitchell was working for the city on a street maintenance crew, a spokesman said.

Monday's shooting occurred less than a block from Tiffany's apartment on Walnut Park Drive, off Mallard Creek Road. Witnesses said they heard several shots, police said.

Late Monday, five of Tiffany's friends visited the bus stop where she was shot in the head. They wept and hugged one another near the stop, marked by a single bouquet of flowers.

They described Tiffany as goofy and fun, and a good student. She ran track at Bessemer City High, where she previously attended school, and she liked to dance.

“She couldn't dance, but she loved to try,” said DeNeika Parker, 17.

Tiffany planned to name her baby Aaliyah and was excited about becoming a mother, said Tyanna Barnette, 16, who said she'd known Tiffany since the two were in middle school.

Tiffany was a junior at Hawthorne. Principal Tracey Pickard said Tiffany came to the school in August as a student in the TAPS program for pregnant students. She said the girl had impressed teachers.

“It was clear that Tiffany was academically strong and off to a good start,” Pickard said. She said the girl's teachers told her that Tiffany “was extremely focused.”

Students at Hawthorne remembered Tiffany as a smart, friendly girl who was always sweet.

“She always had a smile on her face,” said Cameron Blakeney, a sophomore who met her at the movies last summer. “She loved to joke. I'm like, devastated, like a lot of people,” Blakeney said. “We're all pretty torn up on the inside.”

Charlotte-Mecklenburg school officials dispatched crisis teams Monday to counsel students who knew Tiffany. They said they will work with CMPD to increase police visibility at the bus stop and Hawthorne for the next few days.

Tiffany's grandmother, Shirley Boston, in Buffalo, was shocked and tearful when she learned of her granddaughter's death late Monday.

She spoke with her two weeks ago and was looking forward to helping care for her great-granddaughter. “I had my other granddaughter text her today (Monday) to say she didn't need to buy anything for the baby” because the family would take care of it, she said.

Boston said Tiffany spent several childhood years in Buffalo, where her father also lives.

She moved to the Charlotte area and went into foster care after her mother lost custody, Boston said. Mecklenburg County DSS officials would not confirm that Monday. The Observer was unable to reach Tiffany's foster mother.

Tiffany had managed to keep a positive outlook, despite the challenges in her life, said Ashelee Barber, who said she was the niece of Tiffany's foster mother. “She was just a very sweet girl,” said Barber. “When people go through tough times, they sometimes develop hateful feelings, but she wasn't that way.”




Audits turn up misspent money in programs for Foster Children, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg County DSS Officials can't account for $162,000 in donations.

A probe of misspending at a Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services Christmas charity has widened across the agency, and officials now say they are unable to say how much money may have disappeared over the years.

The county's second-largest agency, often a first stop for the community's poor or neglected, has recently been reorganized. Director Mary Wilson, hired last summer, ordered audits following reports of suspicious spending.

The audits looked at several spending programs and financial practices throughout the department.

Among the findings:

Mecklenburg County officials cannot account for $162,000 in donations meant to buy gifts for needy children. That includes a $10,000 check made out to an employee.

Of the 840 receipts inspected for that program, 799 had problems, including receipts that were altered, whited out or omitted in photocopying.

In a separate year-round program, auditors said, money meant to help foster families buy clothes and other necessities for children was spent on office supplies.

The audits cover July 2007 through this past March, but officials say they don't know whether problems started earlier because the last departmentwide audit of DSS was in 1996. Some findings have been turned over to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Officials briefed county commissioners earlier this month about the audits.

But new details are emerging since officials gave a fuller account last week to the commission's audit review committee.

Committee members told county administrators they did not understand how the department failed to adhere to basic financial practices, such as requiring two signatures on checks – a standard spelled out in N.C. law.

Some asked how managers could have allowed such behavior to go unnoticed. The audit committee also appeared surprised that receipts for the department had not been checked for so many years.

Such a review was planned for next year, said Chris Waddell of the county's Internal Audit department, who said he thinks the problems cited in recent audits would have been uncovered.

When panel members asked county auditors and administrators to find out who is responsible for the problems, or how long they persisted, officials cast doubt on whether they could comply.

“There's a lot of missing documentation,” county Finance Director Dena Diorio told the committee.

On Friday, County Manager Harry Jones said officials would respond to problems laid out in the audits.

Overall, Jones said, DSS has been “well-managed,” especially in light of numerous changes in top management in recent years.

But with “an operation of that size it is difficult to be immune from problems,” he said. “We're going to address it and fix it. Hopefully, it won't be recurring.”

"Feel-good" programs:

Officials said charity and emergency spending programs went unchecked by supervisors. Asked why, Wilson said people grew very trusting about “feel-good” programs. Diorio said the longtime programs simply escaped scrutiny.

County officials said some DSS programs were audited annually, but not smaller programs like the Giving Tree.

DSS spends more than $176million annually and employs about 1,200 workers.

Problems surfaced publicly this year when Wilson said she learned about irregular spending patterns in the agency's programs for poor families and foster children.

Wilson said an employee raised questions about money in the Giving Tree program. Wilson said she herself pointed to a need to audit the broader programs.

Since then, leaders have ordered multiple financial audits and suspended two workers suspected of taking $110,000 from the Giving Tree program, which solicits money to buy the holiday gifts.

Officials say they have asked Charlotte-Mecklenburg police to help investigate. One of the suspended workers has been cleared of wrongdoing and reinstated, while the other is now on medical leave. The county has not publicly identified the employees.

County officials say they are trying to determine whether there was criminal activity or just sloppy accounting.

In either case, commissioner Bill James said the findings show the county needs to re-examine how it keeps tabs on taxpayer money. James described the fiscal controls at DSS as “nonexistent.”

“There is a fundamental management control deficiency,” James said. “We have to find out why this lasted as long as it did.”

Ward Simmons, another member of the county audit committee, said there should be two goals. “Fix this for the future, and then this has to do with public confidence in the county: (identify) who's responsible for what happened in the past.”

But county administrators say they are not sure who should be held accountable.

A series of DSS directors:

DSS has had four directors in recent years.

Longtime director Richard “Jake” Jacobsen took a medical leave in 2004 and was briefly replaced in the interim by then-deputy director Brenda Jackson. Jacobsen returned in 2005, only to be reassigned as an executive-in-residence at UNC Charlotte, where he started work in January 2008.

The county appointed another interim DSS director, Janice Allen Jackson, who was also one of the county's general managers.

Director Mary Wilson replaced her last July. Allen Jackson resigned in May for personal reasons.

As a general manager Allen Jackson was responsible for helping oversee DSS for four years. She also was interim director for six months.

Allen Jackson said she was not aware of any accounting failures during her tenure with the county. “No issues were brought to me,” she told the Observer before declining further comment.

Jacobsen worked for 13 years as head of the DSS. Through a county spokesman, Jacobsen declined to comment.

Jacobsen had named a senior-level administrator to oversee DSS finances during his tenure, but county leaders said the post later was vacated. Earlier this year, Wilson recreated the post, naming Angela Hurlburt as the department's director of financial management.

Jones praised Wilson for initiating the financial audit and said she had “clearly inherited this situation.”

“These are programs deliberately designed to operate outside the traditional DSS systems,” Jones said. He said Friday the emergency nature of the charity programs may have led to mistakes. Social workers often must act quickly to address such needs as clothing, housing and medicine.

A lax culture of accounting:

County officials described a lax culture at DSS about accounting procedures.

In some cases, Wilson said, social workers made expenditures without their supervisor's approval. Other times, she said, supervisors did not document approvals for expenses.

Officials say they are unsure whether employees were trained to properly carry out the department's financial policies.

“People who work anywhere need to know what the expectations are,” said John McGillicuddy, county general manager. “And when you know that they've been given those expectations and clear terms ... you can hold them accountable. Part of our challenge is going to be who should have known that these were their responsibility.”

McGillicuddy said county management and DSS directors bear some responsibility in making sure the county is effectively managing the public's money. But he said he thinks that if any of the previous DSS directors knew a problem was occurring, that it would have been addressed.

Officials said they have already addressed issues in the audits, including the need to process all checks through the county finance department and new training for DSS workers on accounting procedures. But the audit panel and county staff said they'd like more investigation.

Commissioner Dan Murrey said the challenge will be infusing the agency with a new culture.

“There are policies and procedures and the way we've always done things,” he said. “In a sound organization those two things are closer together.”




Auditors Found Altered DSS Receipts

Auditors found numerous problems with a Christmas charity run by the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services.

The now-defunct Giving Tree program collected gifts and donations for children in the county's foster care system

The Giving Tree audit, which triggered an agency-wide probe, found:

- No receipts for a $10,000 check made out to an employee.
- For the remaining $152,289 disbursed, $138,978 in receipt copies were provided.
- Of those 840 receipts, 799 had problems, including:
- Parts of receipts whited out, or omitted in photocopying.
- Altered dates.
- Gift card misuse.
- Multiple submissions of altered receipts.



Editorial: Financial Debacle At DSS Cries For CHANGE

Rarely do we agree with Mecklenburg County commissioner Bill James. But he's on the money about findings of misspending and possible theft in the county Department of Social Services.

James said the findings show the county needs to re-examine how it keeps tabs on taxpayer money. He added: “There is a fundamental management control deficiency.”

Indeed. A probe sparked by an employee tip about mishandled money in a county Christmas charity program has now engulfed the entire DSS. Incredibly, management was so lax officials admit they can't say how much money is missing.

But we do know what audits ordered by DSS Director Mary Wilson has uncovered. Among the findings:

County officials cannot account for $162,000 in donations meant to buy gifts for needy children. That includes a $10,000 check made out to an employee.

Of the 840 receipts inspected for that program, 799 had problems, including receipts that were altered, whited out or omitted in photocopying.

Money meant to help foster families buy clothes and other necessities for children was spent on office supplies.

The commissioners' audit review committee got a detailed account of the audit findings recently. The members seemed flabbergasted at what they heard.

DSS failed to adhere to basic financial practices such as requiring two signatures on check – spelled out in N.C. law.

DSS has not been fully audited since 1996. That's more than a decade.

DSS documentation is missing, so it may be difficult to find out who is responsible for the problems, or how long they persisted, county administrators said.

This debacle sounds like a skit from the bumbling Three Stooges. When the public's money is involved – especially when it's charitable donations for the needy – that's a horrifying notion. The people responsible must be held accountable, and policies and procedures changed.

We don't minimize the difficulty. Four people have headed DSS in the last five years. County Manager Harry Jones hired Wilson last summer. He praised her for ordering the audits, and said she “clearly inherited this situation.”

Part of that inheritance was charity and emergency programs that went unchecked, she said, because supervisors viewed them as sacred cows. Bad idea. Another was a culture of lax and sloppy accounting. County officials say they aren't sure whether employees were ever trained to properly carry out the department's financial policies. Say what?!!

These problems are serious. Those at fault deserve more than a slap on the wrist and a training manual. We're glad the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are helping investigate. If workers broke the law, they should be prosecuted. Those who did their jobs poorly should be fired.

Jones said the county will address the problems and fix them. For DSS to maintain the public's trust, the county must.



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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Paper Trail, Charmeck.org, Creepygif.com, Google Maps

Charlotte-Meck. DSS Fraud Probe Reveals More Corruption, Lax Oversight...GAO Audit, New Leadership Needed

Charlotte Observer----


Mecklenburg officials prepared this update for the 2:30 p.m. Audit Review Committe meeting.

The suggestions were released in response to reports of misspending at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Department of Social Services. Officials cannot fully account for tens of thousands of dollars meant to help Children and Poor Families.

Details emerged in June of missing and altered receipts from donations meant to buy Christmas gifts for needy kids. In one case, a $10,000 check was made out to a Charlotte-Meck. DSS employee. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are investigating.

The Audit Review committee is overseeing an internal county probe into the matter.

Among the recommendations:

* Additional audits of Target vouchers, to identify any Fraud or Theft, and to learn why there was an increase in vouchers for the store.

* Studying whether to make county-wide changes to its financial structure.

* Considering the need for adding three members to the county's internal audit staff.

Also on today's agenda: The makeup of the Audit Review Committee itself.

Two of the five committee members are county administrators – County Manager Harry Jones and General Manager John McGillicuddy.

Charlotte-Meck. Board of County commissioners Bill James and Harold Cogdell have said the arrangement undermines public confidence in the panel's work.


Charlotte-Mecklenburg DSS Audit Review Panel Survey Results: Remove County Administrators From the Panel

County administrators should not sit on a panel that oversees management's performance, officials say.

That was one recommendation today from the Audit Review Committee, which is is overseeing an internal county probe into reports of misspending at the Department of Social Services.

The final decision on whether to remove County Manager Harry Jones and General Manager John McGillicuddy from the committee rests with the full board of county commissioners.

The committee studied 9 other large governing bodies in North Carolina and found that none of them included staff members on their Audit Review Committees.

The committee's makeup came under scrutiny after some commissioners questioned whether having staff members conduct audits on the county's performance presents a conflict.




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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, Flickr, Google Maps

Feds Order North Carolina DHHS To Repay $300 Mill For Overbilling Medicaid...HC Reform Can't Wait!

Charlotte Observer, MSNBC-----

RALEIGH - North Carolina will repay about $300 million to the Federal government because of a Medicaid billing error, but it will affect neither the state budget nor patient treatment, NC Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler said Friday.

The accounting mistake began last November when annual changes were made to the share the federal government pays for Medicaid, Cansler said. The error caused more public hospital payments to be billed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and less to the state's account.

Most of the money will be paid back by the end of the month.

"The safeguards that were in place to prevent this type of error were inadequate," Cansler said in a prepared statement. "There were breakdowns in communication and oversight, and corrective actions will be taken quickly."

Gov. Beverly Perdue said late Friday she had told the department to alert the state budget office in the future when federal- or state-funded payments exceed 2 percent of projections and to submit a report giving a reason. Such a process would have caught the problem sooner, she said.

"The circumstances under which it was made and perpetuated are simply unacceptable," Perdue said. "I am moving quickly to get to the bottom of this situation and am taking steps to fix it."

Cansler said he was alerted to the mistake last week and worked out an agreement Wednesday with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to pay back $200 million by July 31 and the rest in payments through the fiscal year.

Most of the state money was available immediately, so it won't worsen the state's already weak fiscal situation, Cansler said.

"We were unknowingly borrowing the money from the federal government," Cansler said in an interview.

Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income children, older adults and the disabled, received $7.5 billion from the federal government this past year for Medicaid. The state is slated to spend more than $2 billion this year on the agency that operated Medicaid.

When asked if remedial actions would include personnel changes, Cansler said any changes would be decided upon in the next few days.

The overpayment is the latest in a series of fiscal errors or overspending Medicaid in North Carolina this decade.

In 2006, the state agreed to reimburse the Federal government $151 million for Medicaid over payments made in error to hospitals as part of a program for poor and uninsured patients.

Earlier this month, a legislative watchdog agency determined North Carolina could have saved itself up to $226 million — up to $635 million when the federal portion is counted — by containing costs sooner in a Medicaid program that provides non-medical care for mental health patients living at home.



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Sources: Charlotte Observer, MSNBC, Google Maps

Charlotte-Meck. DSS Fraud Probe Audit Ordered By County Manager, Approved By County Manager...Conflict Of Interest? (Federal GAO Investigation Needed)

Wait a minute! The Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Manager's Office orders a "Fraud Probe" Audit of DSS, then approves the Audit results?

Call me crazy but isn't that tantamount to a Conflict of Interest?

What kind of Objective Accountability is that?

Everyone and their mother knows that in order to regain Public Trust/ Public Confidence both the County Manager and Asst. Manager should have recused themselves from the Audit process.

For decades Charlotte-Mecklenburg's DSS has focused on catching working people deemed eligible for its services in acts of Fraud.

"It was Fraud this and Fraud that!"

Over the years many working people were put in Jail on Felony charges.

People who were making $7.00, $8.00, $9.00 maybe $10.00 per hour on their jobs, were charged with Felony Fraud if they failed to report anywhere from $.01 to perhaps $1.00 of their wages.

Yet......

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg County DSS Officials/ Management STOLE $162,000. or can't account for $162,000. maybe even more and NO ONE has gone to jail!

This is money that was STOLEN from Foster Care Children and the U.S. Social Security Administration but NO ONE goes to prison???

In addition the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners (with the exception of Bill James) has also decided to DO NOTHING about this situation.

Oh I get it!

Since the people involved in this terrible Scheme are Church Members, Friends, Fraternity and Sorority brothers/sisters and Political associates, many of the Commissioners have chosen to turn a deaf and blind eye.

Call me crazy but isn't that like a double standard?

Better yet its a demonstration of Haves vs. Have Nots, Cronyism and Corruption at its finest. For Shame!

How is it that Regular Working People can be imprisoned on a Felony Charge for not reporting a dollar or two but DSS Officials/ Management are allowed to STEAL more than $162,000 of Federal and Public Funds but NOT go to jail or be charged with a Felony??

I think its time for the U.S. HHS Inspector General Office and U.S. Dept of Government Accountability (GAO) to pay the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Manager's Office, DSS and the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners a little visit.

What's the solution to this fiasco? New, Bold, Bi-Partisan Politically Balanced Leadership.

Leaders who sincerely have Charlotte-Mecklenburg's best interest in mind versus the interest of their pockets, their family and friends.

I'd say its time to clean the "hen house" don't you think?

Time to clean house in these areas: Charlotte City Council, Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, County Manager's Office and DSS.

Think I'm exaggerating about any of this stuff?

Well check out the latest article below from the Charlotte Observer and judge for yourself.

The Charlotte Observer staff has thoroughly investigated this situation. Thus what you are reading is COMPLETELY ACCURATE despite what your Elected Officials may tell you.



Make up of DSS Audit Panel is Criticized


The makeup of a panel investigating alleged misspending at the Department of Social Services has come under scrutiny after it concluded top Mecklenburg County managers took proper steps to address accounting failures.

Two of the five members of the Audit Review Committee are county administrators – County Manager Harry Jones and one of his top lieutenants, John McGillicuddy, who helped write the report.

Some commissioners say the arrangement undermines public confidence in the probe and hinders the committee's ability to find out who's to blame. The report was presented to the county board of commissioners this week.

“It seems odd to me that our county manager and an assistant county manager who reports to our county manager would be a part of a committee to make a determination about whether management responded appropriately,” Commissioner Harold Cogdell said. “It undermines to some extent … the appearance of what this committee is charged with having done.”

Commissioner Dan Murrey, a member of the audit committee, said members will look into whether they should remove administrators from the panel in the future.

Supporters of allowing managers on the panel say it does not compromise investigations and allows administrators to provide commissioners with useful information.

The committee is investigating DSS programs, including a Christmas charity that solicited public donations. Recent financial audits revealed the county cannot account for tens of thousands of dollars from spending programs meant to help children and poor families.

Officials said they may never learn what happened to the money because receipts are missing or altered.

Some commissioners have said Jones and other top managers should shoulder some responsibility. Jones met with commissioners in closed session this week to discuss the issue.

County officials established the Audit Review Committee in 1998 to oversee financial audits and make recommendations to the commissioners. The move followed the indictment of former county elections director Bill Culp, who pleaded guilty to taking $134,000 in bribes and kickbacks.

The county set up the committee so it must include two commissioners, two county administrators and a community member.

Jones and McGillicuddy, county general manager, are the administrators on the committee. Murrey, commissioner Bill James and certified public accountant Ward Simmons are the other members.

Earlier this week, the panel presented a report to the board of commissioners that is critical of the accounting practices at DSS and says further investigation may be needed.

But the report endorses reforms county managers made in response to problems found by auditors.

“Management's responses to the audit findings are appropriate and sufficient in strengthening internal controls and addressing inconsistent and insufficient supervision,” the report says.

McGillicuddy wrote a draft of the report and took suggestions on revisions from other committee members.

McGillicuddy and James disagreed about what committee members had concluded during a meeting.

In an e-mail to committee members and officials, James suggested the report say: “Management's responses to the audit findings are not appropriate and sufficient in strengthening internal controls and addressing inconsistent and insufficient supervision because they do not determine who at DSS was responsible for the inconsistent and insufficient supervision (lack of control environment) and because Management cannot determine how long the control environment has missing from DSS Finance.”

McGillicuddy objected, writing back that James' statement was inaccurate. Murrey and Simmons sided with McGillicuddy.

McGillicuddy told the Observer he volunteered to write the report and “provided this draft to all the members for revisions until the members were satisfied with the report that was provided to the Board in its agenda.”

Commissioners originally appointed McGillicuddy to the audit committee in 2004.

“I hope that my participation on the Audit Review Committee has provided expertise and insight from a management perspective that is useful to the overall charge of the committee,” he said.

Jones did not return calls or an e-mail seeking comment.

Commissioners have long debated whether to keep administrators on the Audit Review Committee.

James said he unsuccessfully lobbied to keep county managers off the committee when it was formed. The presence of administrators prevents the panel from conducting fully independent investigations, he said.

In the DSS case, Cogdell said the committee structure could raise negative public perceptions.

“The makeup would have instilled a little bit better public confidence if you had members of this board in conjunction with some type of outside auditing agency and not someone that the outcome of the recommendation is in some way going to impact or show ... you did a good job or you didn't do a good job,” he said.

Former commissioner Parks Helms said he can understand why some say the arrangement represents a conflict of interest. But Helms said he supported putting administrators on the committee to provide intimate knowledge about the daily workings of county government.

“I never thought having members on management would compromise the integrity,” said Helms, who is former member of the Audit Review Committee. “They are just as interested in finding errors as members of the board.”


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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Google Maps