The Underground Conservative

A state audit found rampant abuse in the Wisconsin Shares program which provides child care for low income families.

No one should really find this story surprising.

After all, it’s only money. More than $20 million to be more precise. And to paraphrase the late Estes Kefauver, $20 million here and $20 million there and pretty soon we’re talking about real money.

Problem is, the politicians who design programs such as this and the bureaucrats who administer them tend to view it as Monopoly money.

RACINE COUNTY — An audit released Friday confirmed suspicions that people are taking advantage of Wisconsin Shares, a state program that pays low-income people for child care so they are better able to find work.

The state Legislative Audit Bureau identified problems like illegal immigrants receiving compensation and fudged child care logs that cost the state more than $20 million in 2008, in addition to other situations where people received money for watching family members’ children.

The audit bureau reviewed 400 randomly chosen participants. For 43 of those participants, or about 11 percent, auditors found problems with eligibility, including inaccurate documentation and using the program while ineligible, according to the report.

The audit bureau concluded this meant the state improperly paid up to $18.5 million in 2008.

“They had cases where workers knew the person applying was not eligible,” said state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, who independently investigated the fraud allegations. “One percent of the people in the program were illegal immigrants.”

Because of such problems Vos recommends better, mandated training for program employees.

“They must enforce the rules whether or not they like them,” he said.

The state’s audit bureau also investigated 50 child care providers they suspected of violations. Of those, 45 returned attendance records for October 2008. An analysis of those records shows numerous problems, including 21 providers that were paid for care they did not provide or were not authorized to provide, costing the state $4 million, according to the report.

This is because child care providers are paid based on child attendance, which is self-reported. Vos said this creates an incentive to lie — in some cases attendance logs were not signed by parents and listed a child as arriving at exactly the same time every day, which is unlikely. Problems like this could be fixed through an independent verification system, like fingerprint scanners, Vos said.

The audit bureau further identified a “significant problem” with program rules that lets providers care for each other’s children and hire parents of children they care for, essentially creating “child care rings.” Such rings were specifically found in Milwaukee and Dane counties, the report said.

Waste and fraud. Two elements always predominant in government programs. Why? They tend to attract people who are less than ethical and the people who administer the programs (1) don’t view it as taxpayers’ money, (2) believe the more people they can get into the system, the better it is for them, and (3) enjoy giving away OPM (Other People’s Money).

As bad as this is, it gets even worse. The Budget From Hell as proposed by Gov. Jim Milhous Doyleone, America’s Worst Governor, and taken to even worse depths by Democrats in the state Legislature, actually cuts funds for investigating welfare abuse.

Rep. Vos says he plans on taking the recommendations from the audit bureau to the floor of the state Assembly as well as fighting Don Doyleone’s plans to cut funhding for investing welfare abuse.

Good luck. No way the Democrats will let him proceed. They like and support welfare fraud and abuse. After all, dishing out OPM helps keep them in office.