Another example of a lack of government oversight

If you don't live in Iowa then you probably have not heard about this story, but since I used to be a resident of the Des Moines area, you might want to check this out. A big scandal has broken out in Des Moines with the revelation that the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium, an agency that has the mission of job training, paid enormous salaries and bonuses to three of its senior executives. As outrageous as the salaries and bonuses are, along with the fact that money that could be uses for job training is instead being fleeced to those 3 geniuses, its even more outrageous to me that the board which okayed the compensation apparently did not realize that a problem existed until someone inside the agency blew the whistle. The story linked below talks about the whole issue, including the director acting like her compensation was not out of line or undeserved. Nothing like a dedictated public servant. Of course this is even more of a scandal because the head of the board overseeing this program is none other than good ol' Archie Brooks, a city council member in Des Moines. Coincidentally, his daughter works for the agency, along with his brother in law and step daughter. Oh, by the way, the woman in question that until a few days ago ran this agency, Ramona Cunningham? Yeah, she used to date ol Arch. Way to go Arch. I remember when I lived in the area I thought Archie was kind of sleazy, glad to see that he has done nothing to change my opinion of him.

The best part of this whole ordeal, besides the fact that many people who could really benefit from job training may not get it now because this money has been wasted, is that the state may have to repay a good chunk of this money to the federal government.

I also liked the quote from Cunningham who basically seemed to have the attitude, according to the article from the Des Moines Register linked below, that since many audits didn't catch this problem that it must not be a problem then. Hmmm, sounds like something Archie would say.

Yuck!!

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060411/NEWS10/60411004/1001&lead=1