Wednesday, July 9, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Family seeks truth behind soldier's mysterious death
CBS NEWS July 9, 2014

During his five deployments over 10 years, Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Venetz fought for America.

As a Green Beret, he earned two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars. At one point, during a fierce, two-day firefight in Afghanistan, he refused to be evacuated despite being wounded and stayed on the battlefield alongside his fellow soldiers, CBS News correspondent Gayle Lemmon reports.

Former Captain Danny Fields was his team leader.

"Anthony would be the first choice on my dream team," Fields said. "When you thought of a Green Beret, Anthony was it. He was a hero to me."

But in January, 2011, this Green Beret's life ended in a bunk at Bagram Airfield. It was just days before coming home to his wife Debbie and their two children, Jace and Alexa.

"I told Alexa that Daddy wasn't going to come home anymore and that he had died. And she screamed and screamed and I think that was probably the worst part," Debbie Venetz said.

Adding to her grief was the mystery surrounding her husband's death.
She was stunned when Army records labeled it an "accident" from "mixed drug intoxication."

An autopsy found high levels of opiates--including heroin--in his system, mixed with multiple sedatives and marijuana. But there was no evidence of how the drugs were ingested and no sign of prior substance abuse.

"I was shocked," Debbie said. "He didn't even want to take Tylenol for his headaches because he didn't like it."

The need to discover the truth grew when the Army declared Sgt. Venetz's death "not in the line of duty" due to his "own misconduct." That ruling tarnished his record and deprived his family of military benefits.

Debbie appealed to her husband's commanders, who launched a second investigation, this one by Special Forces.

It revealed that on the night before he died, Sgt. Venetz "was in pain" from combat injuries and "seeking medical attention." Because of "missing medical records" and a lack of evidence that he took the drugs "on his own free will," Special Forces argued the case should be re-evaluated.

But the Army refused to reverse its decision, leaving Sgt. Venetz's family without the education and medical benefits on which they had counted.

"This family is not being taken care of in the way that they should be," said Ami Neilberger-Miller, an employee of TAPS, a Tragedy Assistance Program that helps thousands of military families.

"There are so many questions here about what happened that night that he died that just don't make sense," Miller said. "And at the end of the day, what we still have is a widow and two little children who are without benefits, whose husband, father will never ever come home."

The Army has declined to comment while Debbie files an appeal.

For her, this isn't only a battle over benefits. It's also a question of whether her husband's death should erase his distinguished service in life.

"He's somebody who sacrificed so much and has gotten nothing in return," Sgt. Fields said.

"Ten years that my husband gave to the military, he's now just another file on someone's desk," Debbie Venetz said. "It's for my children. My children deserve one day to be able to stand there and be proud of their dad."




Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Venetz, was a Green Beret who earned two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars, serving for 10 years. Former Captain Danny Fields was his team leader in Afghanistan. Of Venetz, he said, “'"Anthony would be the first choice on my dream team... When you thought of a Green Beret, Anthony was it. He was a hero to me.'" He died in 2011 from “mixed drug intoxication,” according to the Army. He had no history of drug abuse, and “there was no evidence of how the drugs were ingested.” The army declared his death “not in the line of duty” and as a result of “his own misconduct,” which made him ineligible for death benefits to his family.

His wife went to his superior officers “who launched a second investigation, this one by Special Forces. It revealed that on the night before he died, Sgt. Venetz "was in pain" from combat injuries and "seeking medical attention." Because of "missing medical records" and a lack of evidence that he took the drugs "on his own free will," Special Forces argued the case should be re-evaluated.” The second investigation failed to convince the military to reverse its decision against Venetz. His wife has appealed to “Ami Neilberger-Miller, an employee of TAPS, a Tragedy Assistance Program that helps thousands of military families. 'There are so many questions here about what happened that night that he died that just don't make sense,' Miller said.”

There is no evidence in this article that Mrs. Venetz will be able to file another appeal, or whether her going to the press will cause a reevaluation of the situation by the Army. Perhaps some members of the legislature or even President Obama will be moved to question the situation. “Missing medical records” looks like a coverup of some kind. There is a record that he sought attention for pain the night before, so clearly he was seen by medical practitioners, and probably given some drugs. Could they have mistakenly overdosed him? Or worse, could he have gone to a known source of illegal drugs in the barracks? Access to illicit drugs was commonplace in Vietnam, and probably still is within the military, especially in a location like Afghanistan where the residents grow opium and it probably can be bought in the town. I hope to see more information on this subject.





The main reason the U.S. economy isn't doing better – CBS
By ALAIN SHERTER MONEYWATCH July 9, 2014

Who needs a raise? Nearly everyone, it turns out. Hourly wages in the U.S. are growing a modest 2 percent this year, keeping Americans barely ahead of inflation(or miles behind it if you happen to be strolling down the meat aisle at your local grocery store).

This is older news than you might think. Wages have been stagnant not only since the epic recession that followed the 2008 housing crash, but for decades. In 1979, median production and non-supervisory workers (who account for 80 percent of all private-sector employees) made an inflation-adjusted $15.75 an hour. As of 2013, that pay had inched up only to $16.70 -- that's a total gain of 6.1 percent over 34 years, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

The picture appears just as grim when you look at pretax income, which along with people's earnings includes things like dividends, deposit interest, unemployment benefits, and payments from Social Security and other retirement plans. As of May, U.S. median income (meaning half of Americans made more and half made less) was $53,385, according to Sentier Research. That was nearly 4 percent less than the $55,446 people earned in June 2009, when the recession officially ended. Backward, march!

The best-paid workers have hardly done any better. Over that same time period, people earning the equivalent of $52.80 an hour (or roughly $110,000 a year, putting them in the 95th percentile of U.S. earners) saw their compensation rise by an average of 1 percent per year, the think-tank found.

There's plenty of debate over precisely what factors have kept a lid on wages for so long -- failure to raise the minimum wage jumps to mind, along with a tax code that encourages U.S. companies to move jobs abroad and the weakening of collective bargaining. Where there's consensus is that wages must rise for the economy to start humming again. Workers, after all, are also consumers, whose spending drives growth.

And here there's reason for hope. Most notably, the job market is finally starting to percolate. Employers have have added an average of 231,000 jobs per month this year, compared with 194,000 per month in 2013. Although for seasonal reasons payroll gains are likely to be somewhat volatile over the rest of the year, most forecasters expect monthly job growth in the second half of 2014 to range from 200,000 to 250,000. That's more than enough to keep the jobless rate, currently at 6.1 percent, ticking down, while a stronger pace of job-creation should lift wages.

Other recent signals also point to an acceleration in pay. Small businesses say they're having a harder time filling jobs, which suggests firms will have to pay more to attract workers. Labor data out this week also show that more workers are quitting their job, a sign they are finding it easier to find work or are more confident of getting another position. And income, while still lagging its pre-recession peak, is at least steadily rising.

"We expect the wage numbers to show a more convincing pick-up in the year ahead," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist with High Frequency Economics, in a client note.

The reality, though, is that it will take more than a surge in hiring for the next year or two to raise wages longer term. What's needed are changes in public policy. Raising the minimum wage, as a number of states around the country are doing, is a start, labor advocates and even some business owners say.

Other experts see tax reform as a good way to level the financial playing field, including closing loopholes that favor hedge and private equity fund profits over ordinary income.

For now, of course, partisanship in Washington blocks the path toward higher wages. How those differences are resolved in the years ahead could decide if Americans reap the fruit of their labor or are left waiting for a pay raise that never comes.




“Who needs a raise? Nearly everyone, it turns out. Hourly wages in the U.S. are growing a modest 2 percent this year, keeping Americans barely ahead of inflation(or miles behind it if you happen to be strolling down the meat aisle at your local grocery store).” From 1979 to 2013 – 34 years – inflation adjusted wages for production line workers have increased from $15.75 to $16.70, which is a total of $.95, and over that time span wages rose at a rate of 2.79% a year. I do remember getting a 2% raise at one company and thinking how skimpy it was. The article says these are inflation-adjusted wages, but the actual changes in cost of living are not reported in this article.

“There's plenty of debate over precisely what factors have kept a lid on wages for so long -- failure to raise the minimum wage jumps to mind, along with a tax code that encourages U.S. companies to move jobs abroad and the weakening of collective bargaining. Where there's consensus is that wages must rise for the economy to start humming again. Workers, after all, are also consumers, whose spending drives growth.” This is a clear indication that we need to raise the Federal minimum wage to the $10 plus an hour that Obama wants, stop incentivizing businesses to move overseas, and make it illegal to fire workers for starting or joining a union. In other words, vote in some really progressive Democrats and give them a free hand.





VA honcho: Sorry about retaliation against whistleblowers – CBS
AP  July 9, 2014

WASHINGTON -- A top official at the Veterans Affairs Department says he is sorry that VA employees have suffered retaliation after making complaints about poor patient care, long wait times and other problems.

James Tuchschmidt, the No. 2 official at the Veterans Health Administration, the VA's health care arm, apologized on behalf of the department at a congressional hearing Tuesday night.

"I apologize to everyone whose voice has been stifled," Tuchschmidt said after listening to four VA employees testify for nearly three hours about VA actions to limit criticism and strike back against whistleblowers. "That's not what I stand for. I'm very disillusioned and sickened by all of this."

A federal investigative agency said Tuesday it was examining 67 claims of retaliation by VA supervisors against employees who filed whistleblower complaints -- including 25 complaints filed since June 1 -- after a growing health care scandal involving long patient waits and falsified records at VA hospitals and clinics became public.

The independent Office of Special Counsel said 30 of the complaints about retaliation have passed the initial review stage and were being investigated further for corrective action and possible discipline against VA supervisors and other executives. The complaints were filed in 28 states at 45 separate facilities, Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner said.

Instead of using information provided by whistleblowers as an early warning system, the VA often "has ignored or attempted to minimize problems, allowing serious issues to fester and grow," Lerner told the House Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing. Worse, officials have retaliated against whistleblowers instead of investigating their complaints, she said.

Lerner said her office has been able to block disciplinary actions against several VA employees who reported wrongdoing, including one who reported a possible crime at a VA facility in New York.

The counsel's office also reversed a suspension for a VA employee in Hawaii who reported seeing an elderly patient being improperly restrained in a wheelchair. The whistleblower was granted full back pay and an unspecified monetary award, and the official who retaliated against the worker was suspended, Lerner said.

The VA said earlier Tuesday it was restructuring its Office of Medical Inspector following a scathing report by Lerner's agency last month .

Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said the department would appoint an interim director of the medical inspector's office from outside the current office and was suspending the office's hotline immediately. All complaints would be referred to the VA's Office of Inspector General.

The head of the medical inspector's office retired June 30 following a report by the Office of Special Counsel saying that his office played down whistleblower complaints pointing to "a troubling pattern of deficient patient care" at VA facilities.

"Intimidation or retaliation - not just against whistleblowers, but against any employee who raises a hand to identify a problem, make a suggestion or report what may be a violation in law, policy or our core values - is absolutely unacceptable," Gibson said in a statement. "I will not tolerate it in our organization."

A doctor at the Phoenix veterans hospital, where dozens of veterans died while on waiting lists for appointments, said she was harassed and humiliated after complaining about problems at the hospital.

Dr. Katherine Mitchell said the hospital's emergency room was severely understaffed and could not keep up with "the dangerous flood of patients" there. Mitchell, a former co-director of the Phoenix VA hospital's ER, told the House committee that strokes, heart attacks, internal head bleeding and other serious medical problems were missed by staffers "overwhelmed by the glut of patients."

Her complaints about staffing problems were ignored, Mitchell said, and she was transferred, suspended and reprimanded.

Mitchell, a 16-year veteran at the Phoenix VA, now directs a program for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at the hospital. She said problems she pointed out to supervisors put patients' lives at risk.

"It is a bitter irony that our VA cannot guarantee high-quality health care in the middle of cosmopolitan Phoenix" to veterans who survived wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Korea, she said.

Scott Davis, a program specialist at the VA's Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta, said he was placed on involuntary leave after reporting that officials were "wasting millions of dollars" on a direct mail marketing campaign to promote the health care overhaul signed by President Obama. Davis also reported the possible purging and deletion of at least 10,000 veterans' health records at the Atlanta center. More records and documents could be deleted or manipulated to mask a major backlog and mismanagement, Davis said. was placed on involuntary leave after reporting that officials were "wasting millions of dollars" on a direct mail marketing campaign to promote the health care overhaul signed by President Obama.

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House veterans panel, praised Mitchell and other whistleblowers for coming forward, despite threats of retaliation that included involuntary transfers and suspensions.

"Unlike their supervisors, these whistleblowers have put the interests of veterans before their own," Miller said. "They understand that metrics and measurements mean nothing without personal responsibility."

Rather than push whistleblowers out, "it is time that VA embraces their integrity and recommits itself to accomplishing the promise of providing high-quality health care to veterans," Miller said.




Sixty-seven claims of retaliation against whistleblowers, 25 of which occurred since June 1 of this year, occurred both before and after the scandal in the ranks of the VA broke. These claims came from 28 states and 45 facilities, which seems to indicate that there was widespread approval of the records changes that were made to hide the long wait periods, and an effort from the top to put a lid on it. How far up the chain this happened is not yet known, but Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla has praised the whistleblowers and thanked them for jeopardizing their own jobs in order to publicize the information.

“'Instead of using information provided by whistleblowers as an early warning system, the VA often "has ignored or attempted to minimize problems, allowing serious issues to fester and grow," Lerner told the House Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing. Worse, officials have retaliated against whistleblowers instead of investigating their complaints,'” Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner said. According to Lerner, there have been blockages of disciplinary action in “several” cases and reversal of suspension in another, while the supervisor who suspended the individual has now been himself suspended. “Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said the department would appoint an interim director of the medical inspector's office from outside the current office and was suspending the office's hotline immediately. All complaints would be referred to the VA's Office of Inspector General.”

“The head of the medical inspector's office retired June 30 following a report by the Office of Special Counsel saying that his office played down whistleblower complaints....” Retaliation occurred against a high level employee Dr. Katherine Mitchell for pointing out problems due to staffing shortages. “Scott Davis, a program specialist at the VA's Health Eligibility Center “was placed on involuntary leave after reporting that officials were "wasting millions of dollars" on a direct mail marketing campaign to promote the health care overhaul signed by President Obama,” and reporting the deletion of some 10,000 veterans medical information at the center. “Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House veterans panel, praised Mitchell and other whistleblowers for coming forward...”

What is missing in this report is any indication of specific identifiable directives to the many branches of the VA asking them to, first, perform the shameful changes to records that showed the VA's highly stressed situation, and second, orders to fire or otherwise punish the whistleblowers. This looks to me like a situation from top to bottom of suppression of evidence and coverup rather than attending to the problems that the whistleblowers were pointing up. Some “heads need to roll,” among the top management. I hope and pray that Obama didn't have any idea of what was happening.





50 apparent execution victims found in Iraq
CBS/AP July 9, 2014

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi officials discovered 50 bodies, many of them blindfolded and with their hands bound, in an agricultural area outside a city south of Baghdad on Wednesday, raising concerns over a possible sectarian massacre amid the battle against a Sunni insurgency.

Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim said the bodies had gunshot wounds and were found south of the city of Hillah, a predominantly Shiite city about 60 miles south of Baghdad. He said an investigation was underway to determine the identities of the dead as well as the circumstances of the killings.

The dead were all men between the ages of 25 and 40, and it appeared they had been killed a few days earlier and then dumped in the remote area, said a local police officer and a medical official. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The area south of Hillah is predominantly Shiite, but there is a belt of Sunni-majority towns north of the city.

While the motives remain unclear, such grisly killings hearken back to the worst days of Iraq's sectarian bloodletting in 2006 and 2007. At that time, with a Sunni insurgency raging, Shiite militias and Sunni militant groups were notorious for slayings of members of the other sect, and bodies were frequently dumped along roadsides, in empty lots, ditches and canals. As the levels of violence dropped over time, such discoveries became rare.

But sectarian tensions have soared once more, and authorities have once again begun to find unidentified bodies since the Sunni militant offensive that swept across much of northern and western Iraq over the past month.

Iraq's prime minister, meanwhile, accused the largely autonomous northern Kurdish region on Wednesday of being a haven for the Islamic extremists and other Sunni militants that have overrun much of the country.

Nouri al-Maliki's comments were likely to cause tensions to spike in the central government's already testy relationship with the Kurdish self-rule region. He did not elaborate on his allegations or provide any evidence to back them up.

The Kurdish security force known as the peshmerga has clashed repeatedly with the Sunni militants led by the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS), which recently changed its name and declared itself a Sunni Muslim "Islamic State," straddling the Syria-Iraq border.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have fled to the Kurdish-controlled areas to escape the militant onslaught.

The conflict the past month has taken a sharply sectarian tone. The militant surge is led by ISIS, but other Sunni insurgents have joined, feeding anger in their minority community against the Shiite-led government. On the other side, Shiite militias have rallied around al-Maliki's government to fight back against the militant advance.

Shiite-ruled Iran, a close ally of al-Maliki, has also been helping Iraq's military -- help that is believed to include military advisers.

This week, an Iranian military adviser who was helping coordinate Shiite militias was killed by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, two Shiite militia commanders said Wednesday.

The officer was killed Sunday in Salahuddin province while helping organize Shiite militias in the defense of a revered Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The militia commanders spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief the media.

Previously, only one Iranian has been confirmed killed in Iraq's recent crisis -- a pilot who Iran's state news agency said died defending holy sites in Samarra. It was not clear how he was killed, or in what capacity he was fighting in Iraq.




A massacre of 50 dead was discovered in Iraq near a mainly Shiite city called Hillah. “The dead were all men between the ages of 25 and 40, and it appeared they had been killed a few days earlier and then dumped in the remote area, said a local police officer and a medical official...” Two anonymous officials reported the finding. “The area south of Hillah is predominantly Shiite, but there is a belt of Sunni-majority towns north of the city,” so which side of the divide actually committed the killing is not known. The shootings did occur at the time of a Sunni onslaught, however.

In 2006 and 2007 there were many such killings, some by Sunnis and some by Shiites. Iraq's prime minister is blaming the Kurds for sheltering both sets of militants. Nouri al-Maliki's comments accusing the Kurds of sheltering ISIS were likely to cause tensions to spike in the central government's already testy relationship with the Kurdish self-rule region. “He did not elaborate on his allegations or provide any evidence to back them up.” The Kurdish peshmerga, however, has fought a number of battles against the Sunni militants, so they probably are not purposely protecting them. “Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians” have fled to the Kurdish region to avoid the fighting in their local areas.”





Uncle Sam made $100B in improper payments last year, agencies estimate – CBS
AP  July 9, 2014

WASHINGTON -- By its own estimate, the government made about $100 billion in payments last year to people who may not have been entitled to receive them - tax credits to families that didn't qualify, unemployment benefits to people who had jobs and medical payments for treatments that might not have been necessary.

Congressional investigators say the figure could be even higher.

The Obama administration has reduced the amount of improper payments since they peaked in 2010. Still, estimates from federal agencies show that some are wasting big money at a time when Congress is squeezing agency budgets and looking to save more.

"Nobody knows exactly how much taxpayer money is wasted through improper payments, but the federal government's own astounding estimate is more than half a trillion dollars over the past five years," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. "The fact is, improper payments are staggeringly high in programs designed to help those most in need - children, seniors and low-income families."

Mica chairs the House Oversight subcommittee on government operations. The subcommittee is holding a hearing on improper payments Wednesday afternoon.

Each year, federal agencies are required to estimate the amount of improper payments they issue. They include overpayments, underpayments, payments to the wrong recipient and payments that were made without proper documentation.

Some improper payments are the result of fraud, while others are unintentional, caused by clerical errors or mistakes in awarding benefits without proper verification.

In 2013, federal agencies made $97 billion in overpayments, according to agency estimates. Underpayments totaled $9 billion.

The amount of improper payments has steadily dropped since 2010, when it peaked at $121 billion.

The Obama administration has stepped up efforts to measure improper payments, identify the cause and develop plans to reduce them, said Beth Cobert, deputy director of the White House budget office. Agencies recovered more than $22 billion in overpayments last year.

"We have strengthened accountability and transparency, saving the American people money while improving the fiscal responsibility of federal programs," Cobert said in a statement ahead of Wednesday's hearing. "We are pleased with this progress, but know that we have more work to do in this area."

However, a new report by the Government Accountability Office questions the accuracy of agency estimates, suggesting that the real tally could be higher. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress.

"The federal government is unable to determine the full extent to which improper payments occur and reasonably assure that appropriate actions are taken to reduce them," Beryl H. Davis, director of financial management at the GAO, said in prepared testimony for Wednesday's hearing.

Davis said some agencies don't develop estimates for programs that could be susceptible to improper payments. For example, the Health and Human Services Department says it cannot force states to help it develop estimates for the cash welfare program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The program is administered by the states.

The largest sources of improper payments are government health care programs, according to agency estimates. Medicare's various health insurance programs for older Americans accounted for $50 billion in improper payments in the 2013 budget year, far exceeding any other program.

Most of the payments were deemed improper because they were issued without proper documentation, said Shantanu Agrawal, a deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In some cases, the paperwork didn't verify that services were medically necessary.

"Payments deemed 'improper' under these circumstances tend to be the result of documentation and coding errors made by the provider as opposed to payments made for inappropriate claims," Agrawal said in prepared testimony for Wednesday's hearing.

Among other programs with large amounts of improper payments:

-The earned income tax credit, which provides payments to the working poor in the form of tax refunds. Last year, improper payments totaled $14.5 billion. That's 24 percent of all payments under the program.

The EITC is one of the largest anti-poverty programs in the U.S., providing $60.3 billion in payments last year. Eligibility depends on income and family size, making it complicated to apply for the credit - and difficult to enforce, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

"EITC eligibility depends on items that the IRS cannot readily verify through third-party information reporting, including marital status and the relationship and residency of children," Koskinen told a House committee in May. "In addition, the eligible population for the EITC shifts by approximately one-third each year, making it difficult for the IRS to use prior-year data to assist in validating compliance."

Medicaid, the government health care program for the poor. Last year, improper payments totaled $14.4 billion. Medicaid, which is run jointly by the federal government and the states, has seen a steady decline in improper payments since 2010, when they peaked at $23 billion.

The program is expanding under President Barack Obama's health law.

-Unemployment insurance, a joint federal-state program that provides temporary benefits to laid-off workers. Amount of improper payments last year: $6.2 billion, or 9 percent of all payments.

The Labor Department said most overpayments went to people who continued to get benefits after returning to work, or who didn't meet state requirements to look for work while they were unemployed. Others were ineligible for benefits because they voluntarily quit their jobs or were fired.

-Supplemental Security Income, a disability program for the poor run by the Social Security Administration. Amount of improper payments: $4.3 billion, or 8 percent of all payments.

Social Security's much larger retirement and disability programs issued $2.4 billion in improper payments, according to agency estimates. Those programs provided more than $770 billion in benefits, so improper payments accounted for less than 1 percent.




“By its own estimate, the government made about $100 billion in payments last year to people who may not have been entitled to receive them - tax credits to families that didn't qualify, unemployment benefits to people who had jobs and medical payments for treatments that might not have been necessary. Congressional investigators say the figure could be even higher.” The Obama Administration since 2010 has reduced the number of such payments.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla says that agencies set up to care for the elderly, children and low-income families are the most delinquent. These errors include “overpayments, underpayments, payments to the wrong recipient and payments that were made without proper documentation.... In 2013, federal agencies made $97 billion in overpayments, according to agency estimates. Underpayments totaled $9 billion.... The amount of improper payments has steadily dropped since 2010, when it peaked at $121 billion.... “

“The Obama administration has stepped up efforts to measure improper payments, identify the cause and develop plans to reduce them, said Beth Cobert, deputy director of the White House budget office. Agencies recovered more than $22 billion in overpayments last year.”

I'm glad that most of these improper payments are due to error rather than crime. I would be interested to know what stimulated Obama to start to track and reduce these errors – complaints from Republicans or his own initiative. It's good to know, however it started, that reform is underway.

Now if they could take a close look again at the outrageous costs paid by the military, it would balance the scrutiny out better. In a news article during the 1980's a list of such overpayments by the military showed shocking amounts for things like hammers, toilet paper, screws, etc, not to mention aircraft that have structural problems and other technological devices. It's like getting your bill from the hospital and finding that you have been charged $100 for two aspirin. At that time in the military they weren't vetting the costs as they should, and simply paid out what was asked. They had contracts set up with businesses which were overcharging regularly, but since the military had the contract they never questioned the amount.





States Push For Prison Sentence Overhaul; Prosecutors Push Back – NPR
by MARTIN KASTE
July 09, 2014 

Some red states like Louisiana and Texas have emerged as leaders in a new movement: to divert offenders from prisons and into drug treatment, work release and other incarceration alternatives.

By most counts, Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the country. In recent years, sentencing reformers in the capital, Baton Rouge, have loosened some mandatory minimum sentences and have made parole slightly easier for offenders to get.

But as reformers in Louisiana push for change, they're also running into stiffening resistance — especially from local prosecutors.

It's all happening as the number of Americans behind bars has started to decline. There are multiple reasons for that, including crime rates that have been dropping since the 1990s, as well as the impact of the Supreme Court's 2011 requirement that tough-on-crime California reduce its prison population.

And there's another factor: a growing bipartisan consensus for sentencing reform. Local politicians are getting political cover for those efforts from conservative groups like Right on Crime.

"It is a growing consensus on the right that this is the direction we want to be going," says Kevin Kane, of the libertarian-leaning Pelican Institute for Public Policy in Louisiana. "Most people will point to, 'Well, it's saving money, and that's all conservatives care about.' But I think it goes beyond that."

Kane says libertarians are interested in limiting the government's power to lock people away, while the religious right likes the idea of giving people a shot at redemption — especially when it comes to nonviolent drug offenders.

Still, not everyone is embracing these ideas. In some places, there's been considerable pushback — especially when the idea of eliminating prison time for drug offenders arises.

Pushback In Louisiana

In Lafayette, La., the sheriff's department has reinvented its approach to drug offenders. Marie Collins, a counselor by trade, runs the department's treatment programs. She estimates at least 80 percent of the people in the parish jail got there because of substance abuse.

"The concept of, 'Let's lock them up and throw away the key,' does nothing for society and does nothing for us, because you haven't taught them anything," she says.

So there's counseling offered inside this jail. The sheriff's staff is also constantly scanning the jail's population for nonviolent inmates it can release early into the appropriate programs on the outside.

One option is the Acadiana Recovery Center right next door, a treatment program run by Collins and the sheriff's department — though the staffers play down their connection to law enforcement. In fact, you can seek treatment there even if you've never been arrested.

"If we can be proactive and provide the treatment before they get to jail, it'll actually cost us less money," Collins says.

Arguments like that are making headway at the state level. But reformers in Baton Rouge are also experiencing pushback. By most counts, the state has the highest incarceration rate in the country, and there's a traditional preference for long sentences.

The state's prison population is also hard for lawmakers to ignore. Under guard and dressed in gray jumpsuits marked "offender," inmates work at the capitol building, emptying wastebaskets and serving food in the cafeteria.

Liz Mangham, a lobbyist, has represented the conservative sentencing reformers in Baton Rouge. While they've made progress, she says they appeared to cross a red line this spring with a bill to step down Louisiana's stiff penalties for possession of marijuana.

Under current law, possession is a felony on the second offense. A third may get you as much as 20 years in prison. Mangham recalls the scene when the bill came up for a crucial hearing.

"The Judiciary Committee room was full. The anteroom across the hall, which is twice the size, was full, and the halls were full ... of [district attorneys] and sheriffs coming down to oppose the bill," she says.

The bill died on the spot. In Louisiana and other parts of the South, district attorneys and sheriffs — who Mangham calls "the courthouse crowd" — have a lot of political clout at the state level. She says it's understandable why most sheriffs opposed the bill, because they house state prisoners in parish jails and every prisoner represents a payment from the state.

"So when you're making money to warehouse prisoners, why on earth would you be in favor of sentencing reform?" Mangham says.

But the district attorneys' opposition is more complex — and interesting. And it's emblematic of a growing conflict that's taking place nationally between sentencing reformers and prosecutors.

The Issue: Leverage

The vast majority of criminal cases in America are resolved through plea bargains. Defendants plead guilty out of fear of getting a worse sentence if they don't. Plea bargains jumped above 90 percent in the 1980s and '90s, in part because a wave of harsh new sentences for drug offenses strengthened prosecutors' hands when bargaining with defendants.

"For a DA to have the ability to dangle over someone's head 10, 20 years in jail, that provides them with tremendous leverage to pretty much get whatever they want," says Louisiana State Sen. J.P. Morrell, a Democrat from New Orleans and former public defender.

Morrell was one of the sponsors of the marijuana sentencing reform bill that failed in Baton Rouge. He says one of the benefits of that reform would have been a reduction in the power of prosecutors to, as Louisiana courthouse slang puts it, "bitch" a defendant. A reference to Louisiana's habitual offender law, it refers to a DA threatening to use past convictions — often for marijuana possession — to multiply the length of a defendant's potential sentence.

But what Morrell sees as a problem, prosecutors regard as a necessary tool. That's because many states are now considering similar reductions to mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, and Congress is considering a similar move for federal drug charges.

Prosecutors insist they use the threat of harsh sentences responsibly but say it's a tool they can't do without. Last fall, at a hearing in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the then-executive director of the National District Attorneys Association, Scott Burns, warned against rolling back drug sentences.

"Why now? With crime at record lows, why are we looking at sweeping changes?" Burns said. He endorsed "smart on crime" reforms such as drug courts, but he cautioned against depriving prosecutors of "one of our most effective sticks."

John de Rosier, the district attorney of Calcasieu Parish, La., says "we have people all the time that we know have been involved in robberies, rapes and murders. We haven't been able to prove our cases, but we're in court with them for second-offense possession of marijuana. What do you think we're going to do?"

That's commonly referred to as "prosecutorial discretion," and it's an argument that alarms sentencing reformers like Morrell.

"That level of discretion ought to be terrifying to people," Morrell says. "If you cannot convict someone of a murder, of a robbery, whatever, the fact that you have a disproportionate backup charge to convict them anyway kind of defeats the purpose of due process."

The pushback against sentencing reform also comes from a fear that liberalizing drug laws too much could cost lives. Even as Morrell was trying to reduce sentences for marijuana this spring, the Louisiana Legislature was contemplating increasing real sentences for heroin possession. Like other parts of the country, Louisiana has been experiencing a surge in heroin deaths.

"People are being found dead with the needle still in their arm," says Rep. Joseph Lopinto, a Republican from Metairie, La. He sponsored the bill that would require prison time even for a first offense.

"[In] a perfect world, I would like everybody that's on heroin right now to go get treated," Lopinto says. "But most of the time when that 'come to Jesus' moment happens, it's because of law enforcement."

Even Collins, the Lafayette Sheriff's Department counselor, admits prison has its uses.
"I do see putting them in jail and expecting them to get better 'because we said so' is ridiculous," she says. "However, if you put them in a treatment program and utilize [prison] as a motivational tool, it is very effective."

The Scales Of Justice

Still, if a prosecutor is going to threaten drug users with jail time, that threat has to be credible — someone has to be the example. And in Louisiana, those examples can seem extreme.

Nobody knows this better than Lisa Ladd, whose 27-year-old son, Corey, is now serving a 20-year sentence for his conviction for third-offense marijuana possession. He was arrested with a half-ounce. Ladd seems dumbfounded by what's happened to Corey.

"He broke the law; he does deserve some sort of punishment," she says. "But 20 years? The scales of justice are just so way off balance. They really are."

Now she's raising her imprisoned son's infant daughter. As she talks about it, she breaks down.

"I just lost a son," she says, and after a moment it becomes clear that she's not talking about Corey. Another son, who was 23, died of a drug overdose. Ladd just got the paperwork from the coroner. It looks like it was a mix of heroin and pills.

Ladd's younger son did not have the same kind of legal troubles Corey did. Instead of jail, he went for treatment in Florida. But it didn't take, and now he's the one who's dead.
Would he still be alive if he'd had that "come to Jesus moment" with law enforcement, as Lopinto puts it? It's that kind of question that's dogging the states as they try to figure out the best way to deal with their still-crowded prisons.




“Some red states like Louisiana and Texas have emerged as leaders in a new movement: to divert offenders from prisons and into drug treatment, work release and other incarceration alternatives.... But as reformers in Louisiana push for change, they're also running into stiffening resistance — especially from local prosecutors.... 'It is a growing consensus on the right that this is the direction we want to be going,' says Kevin Kane, of the libertarian-leaning Pelican Institute for Public Policy in Louisiana. 'Most people will point to, 'Well, it's saving money, and that's all conservatives care about.' But I think it goes beyond that."'

Marie Collins, a counselor by trade, runs the department's treatment programs. She estimates at least 80 percent of the people in the parish jail got there because of substance abuse..... So there's counseling offered inside this jail. The sheriff's staff is also constantly scanning the jail's population for nonviolent inmates it can release early into the appropriate programs on the outside. However, there are voices which clamor for longer sentences instead -- “there's a traditional preference for long sentences.” In other words, old thinking (drug addiction is a sin) dies hard. To me selling drugs that you don't use is a crime and a heartless sin, but being addicted is a mental health problem. I'm glad to see that new ways of thinking are putting down roots, even in the diehard South.

Liz Mangham, a lobbyist for sentencing reform says “'it's understandable why most sheriffs opposed the bill, because they house state prisoners in parish jails and every prisoner represents a payment from the state.'” Many prosecutors and law enforcement officials doubt the efficacy of drug treatment in addition, at least until the prisoner has “that come to Jesus moment.”

One prosecutor describes the situation the courts face: “'We haven't been able to prove our cases [on rape or murder], but we're in court with them for second-offense possession of marijuana. What do you think we're going to do?'" “That's commonly referred to as "prosecutorial discretion," and it's an argument that alarms sentencing reformers like Morrell. "That level of discretion ought to be terrifying to people," Morrell says. "If you cannot convict someone of a murder, of a robbery, whatever, the fact that you have a disproportionate backup charge to convict them anyway kind of defeats the purpose of due process." At a certain point, justice ceases to be just.