State Controller John Chiang has released a study by his department which shows a number of instances of fraud in the IHSS program in Fresno and San Diego Counties. Of course, our fearless “fraud-fighting” governor was quick to take credit for these findings.

I can’t believe he had the nerve to try to hook onto the Controller’s investigation.  Here’s why:

The Controller said that the instances of fraud found in his investigation are likely due to inadequate numbers of social workers and case workers needed at the county level to properly administer the IHSS program.  Yet,  Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to cut funding for these positions in his budget proposal.

In his totally self-serving news release praising the Controller’s action, the governor referred to IHSS as: “this important program for Californians that rely on these resources.” This, of course, is the same program that he wants to eliminate completely or cut by 90 percent.

The definition of the Jewish word: “chutzpah” is unmitigated gall. My favorite example has always been the story of the man who killed his mother and father and then threw himself on the mercy of the court because he was an orphan.  But Arnold is providing us with many new examples this year.  

(Steve’s work with IHSS providers is critical for California’s disabled. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

A homecare provider from San Diego told legislators yesterday how she and her client–a qaudriplegic Vietnam veteran–were threatened and harrassed by a fraud investigator from the state.

Nancy Jo Riley of San Diego testified that she and her client were “randomly selected” for a fraud investigation last October as part of a new “anti-fraud” initiative by the state. According to Ms. Riley, the agent from the Department of Health Care Services (DCHS) first threatened in a phone call to cut off all IHSS unless she and her client met with him immediately. At the subsequent meeting, the investigator asked her and her client a long series of “humiliating” questions. He then said he could not understand why a person with a severe disability like his should be subject to a fraud investigation in the first place.  He also said that her client, whose hands are frozen in a fist-like position because of his disability, would “probably” be exempted from new fingerprint requirements for homecare consumers.

Several legislators expressed outrage over this intrusion, which Ms. Riley described as a “raid” and a violation of her Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. Her testimony came shortly after a representative from DCHS had denied at the same hearing that his department was conducting fraud investigations.

Committee chair Assembly Member Noreen Evans (D-7th) declared that no protocols or guidelines have been established for such anti-fraud investigations and that this home visit was possibly unwarranted and premature. She promisd a full committee investigation.

Ms. Evans also warned that without proper safeguards, individuals posing as fraud investigators could easily target elderly and disabled IHSS recipients for fraud and abuse.

The requirements for background checks for the nearly 400,000 IHSS homecare providers, fingerprinting for 450,000 elderly, blind and disabled homecare consumers, unannounced home visits by state and county agents, and other new regulations were enacted last July as part of the 2009-10 state budget agreement.  

The multi-million-dollar anti-fraud initiative resulted from claims by Gov. Schwarzenegger and his allies that fraud in the program was as high as 25 percent, even though every reputable study of the program has shown fraud rates of no more than one to two percent.

The Sacramento County District Attorney, who received more than $3 million from the state for anti-fraud efforts, reported last week that after four months her office had uncovered a total of 19 cases of fraud out of more than 42,000 homecare clients in the County.

We raid the homes of our most vulnerable citizens; we brand thousands of low-wage homecare providers as “fraud criminals”; we waste tens of millions of dollars to investigate widespread fraud that doesn’t exist. All the while, white collar crimnals and crooked government contractors run free.

How low we have sunk!

Yes, it is a cold day in Sacramento and I, who have been against term limits from the day they first were enacted, am now supporting term limits in San Diego County for the Board of Supervisors. Here’s why:

The current Board–right-wing Republicans all–have served together since 1994. They have acted as if they are entitled royalty, not public servants. They have each established multi-million-dollar slush funds, which they have used to enrich and reward their supporters and ensure their reelection.

For example, They’ve used slush fund money to fund a “non-profit” organization that turned around and flew them on junkets. One of them funded a group that proceeded to hire his daughter. Another one funded his friend’s club and bought the club furniture.

Yet while they have been throwing this money around to their friends and supporters,  they have ignored the needs of our county’s working families and most vulnerable citizens.

San Diego County has some of the highest living costs in the country.  But even though the county has a budget surplus of hundreds of millions of dollars and the Supervisors have their slush fund, they have consistently refused to support programs to help poor and sick San Diegans.

There actions can best be summed up by a quote from Howard Rich, chairman of the national advocacy group U.S. Term Limits:

It seems that the longer politicians are in office, the more likely they are to rip us off for their own benefit–rewarding ythe donors who funded their campaigns and the special interests who keep them in power rather than the people they should be serving

.

While I do not generally support the concept of term limits, I can agree that–as a matter of basic fairness–either everyone should have term limits or no one should. You cannot convince me that the San Diego Supervisors are somehow better than state legislators, the governor, the president of the United States, and even the San Diego City Council, all of whom have term limits. Fair is fair.

More than 120,000 people from throughout San Diego County signed a petition supporting term limits for the Supervisors. The initiative will be on the June 2010 ballot. It is backed by a wide range of supporters, ranging from organized labor and the civil rights community to Libertarian Richard Rider and even right-wing Republican stalwart Jon Fleichman, author of the FlashReport weblog.

Every rule has an exception. And as far as term limits are concerned, this is the exception. It is time for the Royal Supervisors of San Diego County to go.

In case you missed it, here’s the heart-warming story of Sara Granda, who was paralyzed from the neck down in an auto accident in 1997, but has gone on to get three college degrees and just passed the State Bar Exam.

http://www.sacbee.com/educatio…

Gov. Schwarzenegger should be commended for going to bat for her so she could take the bar exam. But it’s ironic that if Sara needed home care under the state’s In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, our governor would be demanding that she be fingerprinted, receive unannounced home visits from government agents, and otherwise be treated like a common criminal.

What a hypocrite he is!