One of my beliefs that has changed since I first got elected is that I don’t believe government does a good job being charitable. There’s just too much mischief that takes place when strangers get to spend strangers’ money. Davy Crockett approached it from a different angle to come to the same conclusion over a century ago.
A great example was highlighted in the Las Vegas Sun this week, which told the story of the Las Vegas-Clark County Urban League.
The story starts with the “executive board” of the “non-profit”:
gathered in a $10.5 million community center that hadn’t even opened to the public. The room was bordered by soft leather couches and chairs so new that tags from the factory still hung from them. The league’s center was built with county and federal funds. “We don’t have enough cash on hand … to fully implement programs,” Raihl told his fellow board members. “Cash flow is extremely tight.”
What? This group has taken ten million dollars from Nevada’s families under the auspices of fighting poverty, and instead built itself a palace?
It gets worse.
It turns out this group:
is attempting to fill a void left by another nonprofit organization, the Economic Opportunity Board, which fell apart in 2006 under the weight of mismanaged finances and programs.
Having failed to fight poverty but succeeded in enriching a few once before, it seems government does the same thing all over again.
Las Vegas accountant Lynda R. Keeton was scheduled to work at the group’s Owens Avenue office for the last two weeks of April at a cost of $10,000. That money would come out of the $2.8 million federal grant administered by the state.
A grand a day. Sweet deal, if you can get it. And it wasn’t just the consultants who were pillaging taxpayers under the banner of charity:
the local Urban League affiliate had what appears to be a top-heavy administration, with chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer and communications/government affairs positions overseeing a full-time staff of 48.
Turns out those four, plus a computer tech, were averaging $100K per year each, plus benefits. Looks like a great deal for everyone except taxpayers… and the poor.
“Non-profit” agencies are cursed with a great deal more transparency than government agencies. The reporters who were allowed to observe and report on this management meeting would never be allowed into the meeting of top bureaucrats for a government meeting. Once in a while, an audit, like this one, is released… but most of government’s “anti-poverty” fight is hidden and unaccountable.