Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

Seniors join ‘new’ homeless

I’m gettin’ up there in years myself — 60 in June. So I’m sympathetic. The latest crisis to hit California is that its massively high cost of living is pushing seniors out onto the streets. Social Security checks, small pensions

CHP’s probe of CalFire yielded leads — unlike DA’s probe of CHP

Chris Reed January 3, 2015

The reports that suggest the California Highway Patrol did a solid job in handling the investigation of a prostitution scandal at CalFire’s training acadmy in Ione have a rich subtext. CHP gathered enough strong evidence that 16 CalFire employees were

Thieves rip $800,000 in computers from San Jose State

John Seiler December 31, 2014

Can’t blame this one on Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Thieves ripped off $800,000 of computer equipment from San Jose State. The Contra Costa Times reported: Without a central warehouse or reliable system for keeping track of the valuables

CA govt. workers score top salaries

John Seiler December 26, 2014

A new survey by the U.S. Census Bureau found that California government workers pull down among the highest compensation in the nation. Here’s the map: Table 4 shows average earnings, for 2013, in California for a full-time state-and-local employee are

CA data does not compute

John Seiler December 20, 2014

California remains the global epicenter of computers and the Internet. Then why do so many of its state-government systems not compute? The latest critique comes in a new report, “Data Reliability,” by State Auditor Elaine M. Howle. Subtitle: “State Agencies’

CA firefighter makes $508,893

John Seiler December 17, 2014

The problem of absurdly high compensation for government workers in California never seems to get better. The latest from the Orange County Register’s Watchdog: Several California firefighters managed to triple their base salaries by working tons of overtime last year,

Dems bring back fundraising party

John Seiler December 16, 2014

When the going gets tough — the tough party. A series of scandals involving three California state senators forced the cancellation of the Pro Tem Golf fundraiser earlier this year. But it’s hard to keep party animals down. The party

Budget fight shows unlikelihood of fed $ for bullet train

Chris Reed December 16, 2014

Congress’ most intense squabbles over the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending plan that passed Saturday weren’t over the budget details. They were over plans to add provisions in the measure to modify existing laws, most notably language that would weaken some

Berkeley shuts down Thiel’s free speech

John Seiler December 11, 2014

As I detailed earlier, this month marks the 50th anniversary of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. I noted that, today, free speech largely has been extinguished at the University of California, Berkeley and other American campuses. They’re now just centers

Tax board criticized for delays

Dave Roberts December 10, 2014

California’s Franchise Tax Board is taking too long to complete audits and resolve taxpayers’ refund claims, protests and appeals, costing businesses hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the California Taxpayers Association. Gina Rodriquez, vice president of state tax