A Mt. Dora, FL business lost $30,000 through a sophisticated phone scam where the victim shared info that allowed $30,000 to be transferred out of his checking account. Read the details and protect yourself. Read more →
Arizona school district dropped employee credit card spending reviews of invoices under $2000, and got cought by local TV station public records request. Read more →
Here is the new, official X account for Vivek and Elon's DOGE or Department of Government Efficiency, and how to apply for a job. Read more →
James O'keefe spent 49 minutes today, Feb. 20, 2023 explaining in a video the entire, not well known, train of events leading to his departure from his investigative watchdog group Project Veritas. It happened strangely forced by a hostile Board just days after their huge expose of the Pfizer executive admitting apparent improper actions related to their Covid vaccines. Read more →
Laura Loomer, candidate for the Florida US Congressional Dist. 11 (mosly Lake County and nearby county areas) is having an open house in Leesburg, Tue. July 26. Read the details and flyer here! Read more →
We interviewed Tom Vail, a vote integrity activist in Lake County, FL about evidence uncovered from analysis of Florida's 2020 elections vote dtabase (15-million voters) and suspicious trends found in voter registration data as well as mysterious appearance of Democrat and NPA registrations to match Republican counts. Then there was the database analysis showing ALL Florida addressses where more than 10 voters were registered, with some having 9000 or more registered voters to a single adddress. FAKE???? Read more →
Elected government officials can learn from reported cases of fraud in local government. This link is to a story where a police chief and two others in the small town of Tryon, OK, population 500, embezzled over $80,000 over several years. The city's total annual budget was about $200,000. One lesson is that the elected officials apparently didn't exercise any type of oversight on the spending. "Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd released her audit of the town of Tryon, between Stillwater and Chandler, on Thursday. She identified a total of $95,000 in misappropriated town funds via unauthorized and personal charges, according to a news release." Funds were withdrawn from city accounts via local casinos "In her audit, Byrd faulted not only the employees who benefited from the misappropriations but also the governing board for the town." "This "Town" Board was just asleep at the wheel." The Police Chief, Jered Pricket, is alleged to have made most of the personal transactions, including $3,700 in "questionable credit card expenditures," including deer hunting supplies. The "misappropriation" was 13% of Tryon's annual budget. “Donations made to the Tryon Police Department, totaling $3,960, were not deposited into the Town’s bank account,” Byrd wrote... Read more →
Florida statutes only allow citizens in 20 cities and counties to initiate recalls of corrupt local officials. A new group, RecallFlorida.com, is pushing 2021 Florida bills to correct that and allow citizens in ALL Florida cities and counties to recall corrupt local officials. Read more →
Will your local city or county government agency get hit with ransomware like Baltimore, MD and then their School District a year later? Read this and pass it on to your local government council or board to educate them and ask for a public hearing on whether they are vulnerable or not. Read more →
This rather technical video shows real time voting counts being changed by Dominion voting systems to benefit Biden in PA. Read more →
Owning a mobile home in Florida on leased or rented lots is dangerous and we describe some reasons why. The industry and the Florida legislators need to take action against mobile home park owners who are bullies and harass and threaten mobile home owners so they give up and leave so the park owner can take over the home and sell or rent it for a profit. Read more →
The FL Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended an elected Supt. of Elections in tiny Liberty County, FL (near Tallahassee) for an alleged $40 in fraud (not voter or election fraud) AND Google search has suppressed finding any articles or news about it if you use their search engine. But, Bing found many recent articles. See my updates also. Read more →
A small non-profit that received Florida taxpayer funds, the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (FCADV), refused to disclose spending documents for over a year. Then it was found they paid REALLY excessive income to the CEO, leading to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis initiating reforms and requiring reviews and oversights over ALL non-profits receiving Florida taxpayer funding. Read more →
The big, international website provider, Wordpress.com, is censoring free speech and shutting down conservative websites without notice. Conservatives and businesses should beware of using Wordpress due to that practice. Read more →
A Florida City just paid $600,000 in bitcoin ransom to get access to their computer systems and files after a police department employee opened an email with ransomware code in it. I hope no Lake County, FL city or government agency wastes taxpayer funds by being a future victim of ransomware. Read all about it HERE. Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →
Florida local government agencies like the Lake County FL School District lack process improvement and performance reporting dashboards like a business and need them. We start the conversation with some examples and what School Boards need to do if they actually want to protect the financial interests of taxpayers. Read more →
This is just a friendly reminder from our Watchdog keyboard that Lake County, FL and other elected officials need to ensure they make ethical and objective decisions, and don't practice favoritism, bribery, etc. Read more →
Tavares, FL March 11, 2019 Federal and Florida regulations on compliance with the American Disabilities Act (ADA) are causing excess costs and reduced public transparency over local government meeting videos, agendas, budgets and even annual financial reports (CAFR's). Essentially, some scummy lawyers found that ADA requirements can be interpreted to require that any local government has to provide online information in a format that can be read by ADA software tools used by the disabled, such as vision limited or hearing limited. Apparently, the tools use screen "scanning" to find text or picture captions that can then be converted to audio so the disabled can "read" or "hear" the online information. We wrote an earlier story about this in January 2019 HERE, after the Orlando Sentinel published a story about it. It contains more about the scummy lawsuits, so I did not repeat it here. The Jan. 6, 2019 Orlando Sentinel story is here. And very few local governments have the funds to revamp their websites and file systems to comply with the lawsuit demands. Now, a city like Orlando could afford to get the software and modify all their files so they can be read by the ADA tools,... Read more →
A government spending watchdog, OpenTheBooks.org, tracks wasteful government programs and also tracks local, state and Federal employee wages over $100k. We examined their reports for local cities in the Lake County area, and found 60 employees working in the Tavares, FL area for government that earned over $100k. OpenTheBooks.org also launched an initiative to encourage the Congress to launch a "War on Waste" by listing wasteful, stupid Federal programs and asking the government to publish budget details for transparency, and then eliminate the uncovered, wasteful programs. Read more →
Local governments like cities are being sued because their websites are not completely designed to comply with ADA requirements that were written before the internet was created. For instance, cities cannot post meeting videos if they don't incur the expense to provide captions that software for the blind or deaf can read and translate so they can understand it. Thus the benefit of transparency for 97% of the populations are shut down for 3% who complain. Read more →
An email campaign consultant ran a study and found that big email providers like Yahoo and AOL were favoring liberal political candidates by routing Republican candidate emails to spam folders, such as in Florida, 100% of Rick Scott tested emails were routed to recipient spam folders, but ZERO % of Democrat Bill Nelson's emails went to spam. Read more →
Wunderbar - the newly elected Lake County, FL Court Clerk, Gary Cooney, has Appointed a new, QUALIFIED, Inspector General, Terri Freeman. Read more →
Project Veritas uncovered on video a FEDERAL GAO staffer and card-carrying member of the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) admitting he works to destroy capitalism using work time. As a retired internal audit manager this makes me really angry so I submitted this video link and other information to Trey Gowdy's US House Oversight & Reform Committee and asked for a public investigation. Read more →
Know any Lutherans? Their national group, Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Serices (Lirs) managing about $70-million in mostly Federally funded refugee resettlement programs just exploded in accusations of fraud, mismanagement, etc. Read more →
The Mayor of the City of Eustis, FL pushed through a $250,000 city purchase of a historic building and adjacent lot appraised at $175,000 and over paid $75,000 for the buys. Then the city will keep the lot valued at $35,000 and sell the building for $160,000 to friends of the Mayor without advertising for any other buyers at the sweetheart price. AND, the city will finance the $160,000 (plus imputed interest of $27,000) sale of the building over five years and only require $500 down and no credit checks or due diligence to ensure ability to pay the taxpayer funded mortgage. This is small town cronyism at it's best. Read more →
The credible watchdog group Truth in Accounting just published their ratings of different state fiscal management ratings and Florida got a C. One deceitful practice used by Florida is to promise government employees big health insurance benefits, currently totaling over $9-billion, but NOT FUNDING it at all. Thus future taxpayers will inherit the bill for these unfunded benefits. Read more →
Florida Huckster State Case #33 A Florida Commuter Rail Contract for $500+million was awarded using possible Crony Capitalism and Bid Manipulation politics There just seem to be weak standards for ethical contract selections procedures in Huckster Florida, especially in independent agencies in Florida. In this case, the deciding agency, the South Florida Regional Transit Authority (SFRTA - aka Tri-Rail) is also partially funded with Florida taxpayer funds. Suspicious methods were used to award a $500+million contract to a company whose bids were much higher than other competitive bidders who were deemed "ineligible". AND, back in 2011, SFRTA was tied up on a lawsuit over another $100-million contract dispute. Politico.com - Jan. 26, 2017 - " The winner of the South Florida Regional Transit Authority (SFRTA) contract operates Tri-Rail, a commuter rail service that runs on 70.9 miles of track between Jupiter and downtown Miami. The contract could be up a 10-year term." "The public authority that oversees a South Florida commuter rail service is set to award a more than $500 million contract to a company whose bid was tens of millions of dollars higher than its competitors, each of whom was deemed ineligible for the same technical flaw." "Officials... Read more →
Hillary and Bill Clinton siphoned off billions in aid dollars meant to help Haiti after a disastrous earthquake. This article really tells you what they did. Read more →
Your FRONT PAGE article today, May 22, 2016 on "Florida coastal cities eye rising seas" is very biased, citing unscientific claims like Florida cities "are studying maps that depict areas submerged by as much as 2 to 3 feet of sea rise by 2050." You also say "Along Central Florida's Gulf coast, seas will rise between a foot and 7 feet this century, according to Tampa Bay Climate Science Advisory Panel convened by University of Florida programs. But, you don't disclose data from skeptics of those claims. Why don't you cover BOTH sides of the story? Read more →
The Inspector General for the Florida Dept. of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR) reported an audit of a department for cooking the books and submitting multiple work tickets for single work projects to inflate work statistics. The whisteblower also said inflating the numbers would increase rates paid by insured parties. We include the report excerpt and comment on the report and issue. Read more →
Following a University of Texas admissions scandal, the Chronicle of Higher Education published an investigation into admissions favoritism at 13 top public universities Sunday. They found Florida State Unversity to be dropping entrance admission criteria for connected students, and up to 40 times, connected leaders or alumni contacted the admissions office to "follow up" on specific admissions, unlike several universities which did not allow such actions. Read more →
Tavares, FL April 17, 2015 This is older news, but a relevant example of local government cronyism, bribery, and waste in Palm Beach County, FL Source: Orlando Sentinel: "Lunches, golf outings and vacations involving a Palm Beach County official and government contractors created a potential perception of favoritism in awarding $9 million in publicly funded work, according to the county's inspector general. The inquiry raised questions about Deputy County Engineer Tanya McConnell's role in directing county contracts to three firms represented by people she described as "friends." While Inspector General John Carey found that no laws were broken, he did call for changes to the county's contracting process. He also forwarded the case to the county's Ethics Commission for further review, which rules on potential violations of the county's ethics code." READ more HERE. The above article provides an example of how a strong County Director can bluff staff into giving business to favored vendors who are "friends". It is amazing she was that stupid when the County hired an Independent Inspector General several years ago due to political corruption. Link to Palm Beach Inspector General's website - which has link to the above mentioned 4/16/2015 "Engineering Department" audit. Vance... Read more →
Today the Daily Commercial published a front page article about recent actions by the Lake County School Board to restrict the ability of the District Internal Audit Director from reviewing "teaching and learning" processes. We comment on why that is a bad idea. Never forget that government is a monopoly, so extra oversight and transparency is needed to ensure operations are efficient, effective and economical. One way to do that is have an independent internal audit function with full and unfettered access to all employees, vendors, and records. Read more →
Who knew there is a method defined in the US Constitution and descended from the the British Magna Carta on how citizen activists can convene a Common Law Grand Jury (CLGJ) to investigate local Governent corruption. A well known conservative talk show host and author, Jason W. Hoyt, visited Lake County, FL recently and explained how to setup a CLGJ. Read more →
Florida ranked a D- in a new, national study comparing all states in 13 "integrity" or accountability categories. A well known national watchdog, Center for Public Integrity ( http://www.publicintegrity.org/ ), published their annual "State Integrity Investigation" report comparing how each state ranks in 13 categories related to transparency, oversight and accountability. A partner, www.GlobalIntegrity.org was also involved in the report development. Florida, like MOST states, ranked near the bottom with a D- and only three states had higher C or B rankings. Based on points, Florida "achieved" a 61, and was 30th out of all 50 states (or 57 states if you are Obama). Read more →
Tavares, FL Nov. 5, 2015 A corruption scandal in the city of Opa-locka, FL has caused the city to run out of cash and they aren't paying their bills. "The city even stopped paying life insurance premiums for its workers. You know it's bad when their phone service is shut off for not paying the bills. I will write more later, but here is an initial story on it: Miami Herald On brink of financial collapse, Opa-locka seeks state help For Opa-locka government leaders, the signs of financial distress came abruptly last month: The phone service to City Hall was shut off. Then came the complaints: The city owed thousands in rent payments for police satellite offices and $100,000 to a contractor who walked off the job while restoring the historic City Hall. The city even stopped paying life insurance premiums for its workers. Just two weeks after a corruption scandal embroiled Opa-locka's leaders, the city is faced with another grim development: Opa-locka is edging toward financial collapse. http://www.miamiherald.com/…/miami-gar…/article43040772.html vj Read more →
Tavares, FL July 23, 2015 www.FiscalRangers.com by Vance Jochim Updated August 19, 2015 to reflect additional facts James Krakowsi and I were at the recent July 20th Lake County School Board afternoon "Special Meeting" (like a workshop) and he did such a good job describing what happened that I am including it here. James is a leader in the South Lake 912 Project group that meets in Clermont. Their website is at http://www.southlake912project.com/ . Most of the reports are routine, but I spent time and added comments below on the PD360 program which is a classic case of government mis-management and waste. But the Dept of Evaluations & Accountability staff did a great job of exposing it after Board member Marc Dodd asked for a review of it. (Update: I was told that Supt. Moxley requested the review before Dodd asked questions, but in my opinion if he didn't ask questions and maintain visibility it might still be sitting in a drawer.) You can see the video of the entire 3+ hour meeting HERE on the Lake County Schools YouTube channel. You can read or download the full agenda of the meeting HERE on BoardDocs on the School District website.... Read more →
Tavares, FL May 11, 2015 Are the Lake County, FL School Board members earning their $36,000+ salary by cramming board meetings with non-business awards, presentations and then only discussing ONE item on a 40+ item agenda? I don't think so, and School District Board Chair Debbie Stivender's method of stacking the agenda with non-business items, preventing discussion of business items by putting them on the consent agenda, then limiting public input BEFORE an item is even discussed is un-acceptable. At 6pm today, the regular Board meeting will be at the Lake County Administrative "round" Building in downtown Tavares. However, almost everything on the agenda is a "consent" item, meaning they won't discuss it. Additionally, Chair Debbie Stivender keeps filling the agenda with MORE and MORE non-business presentations of awards which wastes the time of anyone waiting for business issues on the agenda. The agenda for this meeting includes ALL of the following presentations which could take an hour or more, so it means you give public input AFTER waiting for all of them to be completed. If you think Stivender is doing that to waste time so people won't wait to give public input, ask your School Board member why... Read more →
A California school district with only four schools and 6600 students suffered huge fiscal losses due to cronyism and corruption and overpayment of salaries. The local paper published a 10-part investigative series and won a Pulitzer. One of the lessons is the corruption that can occur when contracting firms support elected school board members to get huge school bond issues totaling $200-million and related projects approved. Additionally, the District Superindant was paid $663,000 in salaries, benefits and perks, which was much higher than the Superintendant of the much larger Los Angeles School District. Read more →
Feb. 3, 2015 Tavares, FL Another fine government fiscal fiasco in Michigan wasting over $12-million in taxpayer funds. It seems that the State of Michigan leased a bunch of OLD railcars for a local commuter rail project, but it isn't ready, so the cars sit idle while piling up over $1-million per year in lease payments. Only government (in Michigan) could be that stupid and wasteful of taxpayer funds. It seems that Michigan requires 10% of a Transportation fund be spent on commuter rail, so they blew it on the commuter railcar leases when the railroad line was not usable. "The Michigan Department of Transportation started leasing the cars in 2010 for two commuter rail passenger services proposed between Detroit and Ann Arbor, and Howell and Ann Arbor. But nearly five years later, none of the cars has logged a single commuter passenger mile. There still is no funding and no operator for either proposed commuter service, required environmental studies are not complete, and in the case of the Detroit-Ann Arbor service, even the tracks won't be ready for another two years." "The roughly $11.4 million spent as of Dec. 31 was mostly paid from Michigan's $300-million Comprehensive Transportation Fund,... Read more →
Local Government Fraud Alert: County Finance staffer embezzled $145,000 from Jefferson County, TN funds from 2011 to 2014 Read more →
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