Due to the unprecedented billions of Covid dollars coming from the Federal government in 2020-21 California State Auditor Elaine Howle cautioned that there could be a high risk of waste, fraud and abuse. She appeared before state officials in January 2021 to present evidence of a lack of fairness and equity in the distribution of funds to rural counties and cities.
Howle argued that smaller cities and counties received less per capita in Covid relief funds than larger jurisdictions in violation of federal guidelines. It is no secret that smaller rural counties are the more conservative people of California and were more resistant to Covid un-Constitutional dictates. They were also less supportive of the governor. Could the governor have used Covid funding to politically punish them during a national crisis?
State Finance maintained that illness rates were higher in the more densely populated urban regions but Howle countered that there is no evidence of that. In fact, she argued that rural communities could have experienced higher Covid impacts.
Governor Newsom pledged to withhold funding from cities and counties that did not follow his public health orders. Howle argued that the state did not consistently monitor that issue. At one point in the ongoing California distribution of funds 16 large counties received about $190 per person while the 42 smaller counties got $102 per person her audit revealed. In addition, the 16 more densely populated counties already had received funds directly from the Federal government according to Howle. (U.S. Treasury paid $5.8 billion directly to California counties and cities with populations greater than 500,000.)
“It’s a pretty common frustration in California,” said Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Republican who represents six smaller counties. “The way that funds are distributed tends to favor the (San Francisco) Bay Area and Los Angeles, where the majority of the legislature are from, right? Whereas, the rural areas really feel like they get kind of short shrift.”
In some cases less populated counties had higher rates of infections. Imperial County, with a population of just over 188,000 people, averaged 3,215 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people while Los Angeles County, with more than 10.1 million people, averaged 989 cases per 100,000 people.
The state’s strategy, Howle said, contradicted guidance from the U.S. Treasury that urged states to “treat local governments equitably, regardless of their population size.” “By not equitably providing counties with funds, there is greater risk that more small counties’ COVID-19 related funding needs were unmet,” Howle wrote.
The state initially withheld money from two cities — Coalinga ($212,000) and Atwater ($387,000) — after they passed resolutions defying un-Constitutional and nonsensical public health orders. But Howle said the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES), which was in charge of monitoring local governments, “could not demonstrate that it had evaluated all cities.” (476 cities)
The City of Imperial passed a resolution defying the Governor’s orders, encouraged businesses to open and still received their funds. Howle challenged the hit and miss “informal” approach to evaluating compliance. OES eventually funded Coalinga and Atwater in spite of their resolutions as a result of pressure from the Auditor.
The state’s Employment Development Department was responsible for distributing a larger sum of unemployment checks than any other state had in modern history. In the rush to get people funds, the department paid billions of dollars ($31 billion as of Jan 2021) in claims that since have been found to have been fraudulent, Howle said. Many inmates in California prisons received unemployment monies.
California Corona Virus money funded hundreds of millions in contracts (often no-bid) with large corporations that had been very generous underwriting the Governor’s political campaigns.
The moral is that the more money and responsibility you give people with no accountability or integrity the bigger the disaster. Covid policies killed more people and damaged more lives than the mild illness ever could.
The Covid Agenda again revealed the moral bottom feeders that pose as our leaders.
(Lou Binninger can be heard on No Hostages Radio podcast, live on KMYC 1410AM 10-1 Saturdays, read at Live with Lou on Facebook and at Nohostagesradio.com)
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