As a member of the Business Leaders for Responsible Government of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, I pay close attention to how government spends our money. Maybe I should say how government wastes our money.
As I write this the national deficit is well north of $16 Trillion. If you still haven't figured out why we're in such a deep, dark and dangerous hole, look no further than the Colorado Energy Office.
In this story by 9News KUSA, we find out the folks at the energy office have been a bit lax in accounting for our money.
Some examples:
The Colorado Energy Office can't account for $252 Million dollars in spending between 2009 and 2012. WTF? (I'm not referring to the last three days of the work week)
The Pueblo Chieftain reports that "Auditors found that between 2007 and 2012, the agency had no comprehensive annual budget for 34 programs and couldn’t determine the amount spent on any of them. Auditors reviewed eight of those programs in depth, finding that staff couldn’t identify goals or whether any of them had been achieved."
Most of the money came from "Federal Stimulus Funds." A better name would be OUR TAX DOLLARS. Where the heck do people, especially at agencies like the Colorado gang think this money comes from?
The bottom line here is this isn't by any measure an isolated incident. Not just in Colorado but the entire government from Federal to the most local of agencies.
Meanwhile Colorado Energy Office interim director, Kevin Patterson, told lawmakers that fixes have begun. Too late Kevin. We don't need fixes, we need to get the money back, we need those who blew it on a good time to be punished. It's called accountability.
But these days, government and accountability is an oxymoron. Thus, "We the People" lose. Every time.
Brian Olson
Owner/Consultant
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you" (We also love to blow the whistle when called for)
As I write this the national deficit is well north of $16 Trillion. If you still haven't figured out why we're in such a deep, dark and dangerous hole, look no further than the Colorado Energy Office.
In this story by 9News KUSA, we find out the folks at the energy office have been a bit lax in accounting for our money.
Some examples:
- The agency spent $1500.00 to send an employee for training. This after the employee had resigned a month earlier.
- Another line item listed $25,000.00 for "memberships." To what we don't know.
- All sorts of our money was spent on travel, conferences and the like with no expense reports filed by those who went.
The Colorado Energy Office can't account for $252 Million dollars in spending between 2009 and 2012. WTF? (I'm not referring to the last three days of the work week)
The Pueblo Chieftain reports that "Auditors found that between 2007 and 2012, the agency had no comprehensive annual budget for 34 programs and couldn’t determine the amount spent on any of them. Auditors reviewed eight of those programs in depth, finding that staff couldn’t identify goals or whether any of them had been achieved."
Most of the money came from "Federal Stimulus Funds." A better name would be OUR TAX DOLLARS. Where the heck do people, especially at agencies like the Colorado gang think this money comes from?
The bottom line here is this isn't by any measure an isolated incident. Not just in Colorado but the entire government from Federal to the most local of agencies.
Meanwhile Colorado Energy Office interim director, Kevin Patterson, told lawmakers that fixes have begun. Too late Kevin. We don't need fixes, we need to get the money back, we need those who blew it on a good time to be punished. It's called accountability.
But these days, government and accountability is an oxymoron. Thus, "We the People" lose. Every time.
Brian Olson
Owner/Consultant
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you" (We also love to blow the whistle when called for)
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