money

There is no limit to the fraud and deceit unsupervised people can rain upon us.

How easy it is for people to be free and loose and even criminal in the use of others’ money and resources. Little wonder Americans fed up with being fleeced and deceived are increasingly suspicious of virtually any kind of official entity.

Allegedly respected corporation leaders lie, cheat, steal and mislead about their finances, allow their firms to sink into ruin, and hurt millions of trusting people. People in government, so accustomed to dipping their hands greedily into the public till, get carried away with expense activities at harm to the people they are supposed to serve.

This does not even take into account the scandals which have rocked the Catholic church in America because of the sexual exploits of depraved priests  and the way the church’s hierarchy has tried to hide, cover up and rationalize what has happened for so many years. That goes far beyond mere money.

A good example of why every public agency, from a city commission and school board, right on up to the White House should keep a close eye on what is happening comes from Virginia.

The governor of the state, Mark Warner, has eliminated what long has been the Virginia Port Authority’s special exception to the state travel policy after the agency’s lavish spending at the Paris Air show in June 2001. How many other Virginia agencies have had similar scandals and how many other states have similar boondoggling, fraud and deceit?

A story in the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press in June first revealed the cost to taxpayers of a trip by 38 people who went to Paris last summer, supposedly to promote the region, the state and the Aviation World’s Fair to be held in Newport News in April 2003.

Some state officials traveled modestly and properly. Too bad they are tarred by the exorbitance of a few. Others used first-class and business-class airplane tickets, stayed in exclusive hotel rooms and hired chauffeured vehicles. The top five spenders rang up an average of $12,291 per person for the trip, which ranged from three to 12 days.

Shirley J. Ybarra, secretary of transportation under then-Gov. Jim Gilmore, was the biggest spender. She purchased a first-class airplane ticket for $9,447, stayed in a $990-per-night room at an exclusive Paris hotel, and used a $55-an-hour chauffeured Mercedes to get around. Her trip cost taxpayers $15,481.

Virginia officials say they plan an immediate study of past travel expenses and will set up a new policy for travel costs. Too bad it took a mess of this nature to bring that about.

What kind of ongoing watchdog process will be installed?

One good result of all this is that every state will take harder looks at what has been spent, what is being spent and what kinds of outlays there will be down the line. It’s time the taxpayers who foot outlandish bills get a break.

Executives, department heads and officials at all levels of government, religion and private business and industry do not have favorable images right now. It is going to be a while before the kind of trust they need is going to return.

Kansas, as are most other states, is facing severe financial problems. There are bound to be many ways to reduce spending and, based on travel expense embarrassment in Virginia, it stands to reason Topeka officials should take a hard look at travel budgets by all state agencies, including those at state universities.