Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

San Onofre bailout under growing fire

California’s powerful, politically connected giant electricity utilities are used to getting their way and to getting help when things go wrong. When an ineptly designed state power “deregulation” law exposed Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego

Audit reveals ‘serious and pervasive deficiencies’ in West Covina

John July 13, 2015

A scathing audit by state Controller Betty T. Yee has found “serious and pervasive deficiencies” in the city of West Covina’s administrative and internal accounting controls. The problems with West Covina’s public contracts were so bad, the controller’s office says,

Special contracts allow ‘full-time’ teachers to work for both union and district

Steve Miller July 7, 2015

It’s been called “ghost teaching,” and it thrives in California. Full-time teachers are paid six-figure salaries to work for their union while keeping their school district seniority and pensions afloat. The dual work arrangements are built into union contracts. “This

L.A. Controller’s audit reveals overtime pay abuse

Josephine Djuhana May 26, 2015

Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin released an audit on Tuesday outlining excessive overtime use in the Department of Transportation. The controller’s office received an anonymous tip from its Fraud Waste & Abuse Hotline and was able to “identify four supervisors

Legislator warns against lawsuit abuse

Dave Roberts April 29, 2015

When California’s Republican legislators warn that high taxes, onerous regulations and frivolous lawsuits are driving businesses out of California, they are not only talking about corporations like Toyota, which is relocating from Torrance to Plano, Texas. They are also concerned

DWP employees paid up to three times that of private sector

John Seiler March 31, 2015

A new study by the California Policy Center found that employees at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power make up to nearly three times the pay of their private-sector equivalents: “The largest premiums are found in generic jobs

CARTOON: CA wine and arsenic

CalWatchdog Staff March 30, 2015

CA prisoner population down, guard pay up

John Seiler March 26, 2015

Federal court orders forced California to cut its number of prisoners. That resulted in Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2011 “realignment” program, which mainly shifted prisoners to local jails. Yet overall state prison-guard compensation is up sharply. Reported the San Diego U-T: Overtime

CA boosts film subsidies while Michigan could cut them

John Seiler March 24, 2015

Last September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a $330 million film subsidy bill to help Hollywood fend off subsidies from other states. He said, “Today, we remind the world that the Golden State is the home of the silver screen. This bill

Auditor scolds state on state computer disasters

John Seiler March 22, 2015

A longtime theme of CalWatchdog.com has been the numerous computer disasters of the California government, in juxtaposition to the computer and Internet revolutions that have taken place in the state. State Auditor Elaine M. Howle just released a comprehensive report scolding