FatCratz

An Original FatCrat: Marion Barry

Former Washington DC Mayor (and current Council member) Marion Barry is an archetypal FatCrat. Put in a position of responsibility by the people of Washington, he has habitually abused that responsibility, and rejected even the appearance of accountability.

For those of you lucky enough to live outside the beltway, you may have stopped following Barry's colorful career developments, encompassing crack cocaine, prostitution, and drunken driving. Now he is a confirmed tax-dodger, owing $275,000 in back taxes to the feds, as well as an undisclosed amount to the DC government... which, by the way, continues to cut him paychecks every two weeks.

Yet he remains an untouchable member of the FatCratocracy. Today it was announced that federal prosecutors will no longer seek jail time for his failure to pay taxes.

Pity the poor IRS employees, who face stiff workplace penalties if they file late or fail to report a few hundred dollars. This is a far cry from the leniency shown to Barry, or to their new boss Timothy Geithner. You can see why their union wants to end this double-standard... by changing the IRS that hold our tax collectors up to such a high standard. 

Rep. Jan Schakowsky's "Despicable" Hypocrisy

Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois thinks the tea party protests were "despicable" and "shameful," cheapening the memory of an honorable moment in American history. As many in the blogosphere have pointed out, this is rich given that Schakowsky's husband, Robert Creamer, plead guilty to tax violations and bank fraud that swindled financial institutions of $2.3 million during the 90's.

People protesting high taxes and the waste of their tax dollars are despicable, but an admitted felon who defrauded the government and others is a "good man," who has done "good work" for forty years and will continue to do so in the future?

In the current climate it is difficult to ask this question in a non-partisan way, but why do so many of those who bear the responsibility for creating the tax code take the responsibility of paying their taxes so lightly?

Perhaps this is the Spirit of '76 that was on display this week... it's not that we have taxation without representation, but that the representation we have is so feckless and disinterested in the plight of the those who pay taxes.

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Remember, the FatCratz model is that we hear stories from inside the insane asylum. While it's enjoyable to explore the glories of the public sector from the outside, it has a more exotic flair when you see the workings from the inside.

The asylum is a harsh metaphor, to be sure, but certainly applicable. As we've illustrated, life in the public sector can be a complete inversion of the real world. After a while, you accommodate yourself, and it starts to seem normal.

If you think we're wrong, let us know. If you agree, drop us a line. We want to hear from you.

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How Have Your Responded to the Recession?

A lot of us have had to change our plans for spending as a result of the current recession. There are a lot of ways we tighten the belt... putting off a big trip, or maybe delaying by a year or two trading up to a new car.

Government, too, is having to change its plans. But remember, in the public sector the incentives and behaviors are exactly opposite that of the real world:

The faltering economy threatens to disrupt plans to retire the U.S. space-shuttle fleet next year and free up funds to develop a new generation of manned spacecraft.

That's right... the recession is disrupting plans for the government to STOP SPENDING money.

FatCratz Salutes Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown

Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown yesterday posted on the city's website the name, title, and base salary of each city employee, promising to post updated numbers at the end of the fiscal year reflecting overtime pay. FatCratz has previously highlighted Legistorm's effort to publicize what congressional staffers earn each year, and applauds the public airing of government employees salary data. This is a no-brainer.

It should also be noted that Mayor Brown's salary is a rather modest $105,000. Compare that to the $178,789 earned each year by the spendthrift L.A. City council members mentioned here yesterday.

A Million Bucks A Year For... Calligraphy

The L.A. City council spent $1 million in 2007-08 fiscal year to have 27,978 scrolls hand-decorated with calligraphy. The budget for fancy writing remains unscathed while the city cuts back on libraries and paramedics.

“It’s a little piece of sugar,” Councilman Bill Rosendahl, a member of the Budget and Finance Committee, told L.A. Weekly. Council President Eric Garcetti, who trails only Mayor Villaraigosa in his patronage of the calligraphy services, said through his spokesman, “Some recipients have told me it’s one of the most meaningful recognitions they’ve ever received.”

In Congress, they call this "campaign literature." They're buying votes, people. People aren't nearly as upset about paying taxes, as they are upset about what the taxes are spent on.

[Hat tip to the folks at OhMyGov!]

Who is Tracking Fraud?

As we noted in an earlier post, the incentives regarding fraud differ widely in the public and private sectors. Fraud is not the worst thing for a government agency, the discovery of it is.

So fraud enforcement is habitually under-funded and staffed. Thus, no surprise that "...no one at IRS had examined teleconferencing-related charges for unusual charges or potential waste and improper use," according to a recent report, and that, unwatched, employees abused their privileges:

On one calling card alone, an employee charged $59,000 for improper overseas calls made over a 12-month period in 2007 and 2008, according to the report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The report offered no estimate of the total amount of money wasted in improper use of the calling cards.

...$8.4 million was charged to IRS calling cards between October 2005 and April 2008. IRS employees primarily use the cards to dial into teleconferences, accounting for $7.4 million of that spending....no one at IRS had examined teleconferencing-related charges for unusual charges or potential waste and improper use, the report states. IRS hasn’t validated its calling card inventory in more than three years, the report states. It analyzes one month of telephone call activity every quarter, and the report concludes that isn’t enough to prevent fraud.

Do you know about a case of fraud that's too small for an IG to investigate, or wouldn't merit a report in the Federal Times? Report it here.

The truth will set us free. People behave better when they know people are watching.

The Whistleblowers We Celebrate

The Government Accountability Project sponsors the Ridenhour Award today in Washington, DC, "in recognition of the year's noteworthy whistleblowers and truth-tellers." The award is named after Ron Ridenhour, a Vietnam veteran who helped bring the My Lai massacre to light.

FatCratz supports whistleblowers, who play a crucial role keeping our government honest. We need more of them. Many government employees remain silent about misdeed and waste they observe, for fear of punishment in the workplace. I have observed them being retaliated against.

What we find intersting, however, are the whistleblowers who are celebrated in our news and entertainment media. They either take down corporate Fat Cats--chemical companies, tobacco manufacturers, Enron--or expose programs related to national defense and counter-terrorism.

For instance, among this year's honorees are Thomas Tamm, who helped expose the government's wiretapping program, and Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals. A quick run down the list of past recipients includes Jimmy Carter, Bill Moyers, Seymour Hersh (Abu Ghraib), and Joseph Wilson (husband of Valerie Plame, in case you've forgotten).

Everyone on this list may be worthy of their awards, but FatCratz is disappointed that we see know truth-tellers exposing the abuse of food stamps, or Medicare fraud, or bureaucratic waste in DC. Whistleblowing should not be a partisan activity, but all too often it seems that those who argue for greater "sunshine" in our policy-making have a particular focus on areas of policy that have some justification for secrecy in the first place. Sure, challenge that justification, but how about some sunlight of the waste that takes place in broad daylight?

Want to blow your whistle? Drop us a line.

Mr. Chiekwe Cheating with Chits

One of the first government jobs I ever held included research activities. Shortly after arriving on the job, I asked how I could go about purchasing a book for work purposes and expensing the costs. A colleague in a position of authority told me not to worry about the official process for expensing such a small purchase. Rather, she said, just buy the book with your own money and manufacture a taxi receipt in the same amount to reimburse yourself. That's how red tape usually works, encouraging honest employees to engage in deceptive behavior for the sake of practicality.

I thought of that story when I came across the following story [WARNING: Canadian content follows]:

A former civil servant faces criminal charges for allegedly billing about $20,000 worth of unauthorized cab rides to the federal government over a six-year period. Lewis Chiekwe, 61, of Cole Harbour [Nova Scotia] used government taxi chits to pay for trips for personal use between January 2000 and June 2006, the Crown alleges. He was employed in the information technology services division of Public Works and Government Services Canada at the time but is no longer with the government. ... In an interview outside court, Crown attorney Craig Botterill said Mr. Chiekwe used the taxi chits “as if he were using his own private automobile.” The alleged activity went undetected for years until a department employee responsible for vetting the taxi chits couldn't make out the signature on one of the slips.

Maybe Mr. Chiekwe was just reimbursing himself for some work supplies he bought out of his own purse?

As usualy with these stories, the exposure of the criminal act reveals two offenses. First, the guy who bilked the system for personal gain. Then the system itself and its monitors, which failed in its oversight and proved all to easy to manipulate.

Taking Your Lunch Hour Seriously

A county employee in Binghamton, NY wants to be reimbursed for a lost lunch hour. You see, his boss kept him inside the building for his own safety while thirteen people were being killed nearby.

The hour in question is the time James Kauchis, an accounting clerk, was being held in his building by bosses for his own protection while a massacre was underway at the American Civic Association nearby. The county worker has told a Binghamton newspaper he did indeed file a formal complaint last week to the county personnel department. Beyond that he says it's a matter, quote, "between me, the administration and the union." ...

The county had provided pizza and beverages to workers during the time they were being confined to the government building for their own safety.

Whatever you do, don't come between a government worker and his lunch hour.

"This is the kind of thing that makes government workers look bad," said personnel department director Michael Klein.