Ghost Towns - Drought Could Wipe Cities Off Map

Berlin, a ghost town in Nevada

New California Ghost Towns

• Yet another week goes by and the legislature refuses to build a string of desalination plants up and down the coast.

TULARE COUNTY (CBS13) — The epicenter of California’s drought crisis is in the Central Valley, where there are growing fears the drought could wipe entire towns off of the map.

Wells are going dry, jobs are harder to come by and families are already moving, either to different states or even Mexico in search of work.

Before visiting Tulare County, a place where wells have gone dry and some people are living in third-world conditions, we went to a place deep in the Mojave Desert that offers a dire warning of what can happen when the water runs out.

Desolate and deserted, Dave Leimbach is one of the few left in Lockhart.

Once home to hundreds, it’s an all but abandoned and forgotten ghost town in the Mojave that barely a half-dozen people call home.

The sun set slowly on the old farming town when the nearby lake dried up.

“I’ve been out here since 1980,” he said. “And they’re all gone. All of them.”

Hundreds of miles away, communities similarly built on farming are struggling as water is scarce. Orchards have been ripped out, and farm jobs are few. Many worry new ghost towns could be on the horizon in Central California.

In these parts, Donna Johnson is affectionately known as the water lady. She’s delivering water to a needy family in East Porterville, a devastated town we’ve visited before. Dozens more wells have run dry since our last trip. Most of the Tulare County community south of Fresno still has no water.

Inside, Juanna Garcia does dishes with bottled water. In the days before help arrived, she didn’t use soap. She gave the leftover dishwater to her kids. Living in poverty with no running water, she may have to leave.

Here we met Alex, a farm worker who drives nearly a day for the closest job to Washington state or even Toronto. Next month he plans to move away.

“No water, no nothing,” he said.

Drinking water and food lines are longer than ever at Iglesia Emmanuel.

“It’s dire, it’s dire here, it’s dire straits,” said Antonio Alvarez.

Fear in the air is as thick as the humidity on a sweltering summer day. The Porterville church hands out fruits and vegetables. Each time, the supplies seem to run out faster.

“We’re seeing a lot of new faces lately in the last few weeks, said Iglesia Emmanuel Church Pastor Roman Hernandez.

Nobody knows the area’s worsening struggles more than he does. He says families are packing up for Oregon, Illinois, and even Georgia to find farm work. One woman talked of going back to Mexico.

“She grew up in Mexico very poor: no running water, no shoes, no electricity, but she told me that she at least had plenty of water,” he said. “I haven’t seen her, so my suspicion is she went back to Mexico altogether.”

Water trucks fill up tanks in East Porterville front yards, but as the drought deepens, there are new reports of neighbors becoming hostile with the water haulers. They don’t want their dwindling well water to be taken elsewhere.

In one case, people reportedly parked their cars, trying to form a barricade to keep the truck from getting to that well. Another time it got so tense, the sheriff’s department was called out.

Raindrops fell on Porterville recently for the first time in months. Children were so excited they swam in the pastor’s church parking lot.

Any glimmer of hope is welcome in towns across Tulare County. Nearly 1,500 wells are tapped out and farms are scaling back.

UC Davis Professor Dan Sumner specializes in agricultural economics.

“It’s just tough, and people are having to leave communities they’ve grown up in,” he said.

He says while there are communities on the edge, the agriculture that supports them is strong enough to survive.

“The farms themselves, they’ve been built to deal with this drought and the next drought unless we do something really crazy,” he said.

But for those who live it every day, that fear is very real if the drought doesn’t end soon.

“They’re just gonna dry up just like the old days when there was a drought, towns would turn into a ghost town,” Alvarez said.

Out in the Mojave Desert, Leimbach saw it with his own eyes.

“No people, no alfalfa, no store; just me and my dad,” he said.

He can’t help but worry for the future of California’s farming heartland.

There is hope of drilling a new well to solve East Porterville’s water problems. Tulare County has a $1.6 million state grant and is asking the federal government for the remaining $400,000 balance to cover the cost of the new well.

Read More . . . .

Perth, Australia Desalination Plant
If California needs water then the state should build desalination plants like they do all over the world.  California has the entire Pacific Ocean to draw from.

California will keep Iran sanctions

California United on Iran

(Breitbart News)  -  The States of New York and California have no intention of complying with the Iran deal’s requirement that state and local governments lift their own sanctions against the Iranian regime.

As Breitbart News first reported last week, and the Wall Street Journal confirmed Monday, states have the constitutional authority to retain their existing sanctions against Iran, or even to apply new ones, because President Barack Obama decided to impose the Iran deal as an executive agreement without any federal enabling legislation that would override state laws.

“We will do everything in the world not to support the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism,” said Democrat Dov Hikind, a New York State Assemblyman, speaking to Breitbart News on Monday.

Hikind said that while he was “cautiously optimistic” that Congress would have the votes to override President Obama’s expected veto and reject the Iran deal, he was also confident that New York would keep tough sanctions in place against Iran. New York, like 29 other states, has passed divestment laws that prevent the state from investing public funds in Iran.

In addition, New York is one of about a dozen states with laws that prevent the state and local governments from entering into contracts with companies that do extensive business in Iran’s energy sector.

The New York Iran Divestment Act of 2012 requires the state to maintain a blacklist of companies that are excluded. Many of the same companies are specifically granted sanctions relief by the Iran deal, which also provides (p. 15) that the U.S. must “take appropriate steps” to reverse “law[s] at the state or local level” that interfere with “sanctions lifting.”

Hikind told Breitbart News that he was confident that the Governor Andrew Cuomo would not yield in the face of pressure from the Obama administration. (The governor’s office did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson from the New York Department of Financial Services told Breitbart News: “We have a general policy of not commenting on ongoing enforcement matters.”) Hikind added that sanctions could be dropped when the Iranian regime had changed significantly, such that it no longer supported terrorism against the U.S. and Israel.

California is also unlikely to drop its sanctions against Iran, according to Republican Assemblyman Joel Anderson of Alpine, who introduced the Public Divest from Iran Act, which was signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007. The law “requires that two conditions are met before we can resume investment,” Anderson told Breitbart News via e-mail on Monday. “Neither have been met to date.”

Those two conditions, according to the bill’s text, are 1) that “Iran is removed from the United States Department of State’s list of countries that have been determined to repeatedly provide support for acts of international terrorism,” and 2) that “the President of the United States determines and certifies to the appropriate committee of the Congress of the United States that Iran has ceased its efforts to design, develop, manufacture, or acquire a nuclear explosive device or related materials and technology.” Neither of those conditions is likely to be met soon.

State sanctions against Iran were passed over the past several years to complement and expand federal and international sanctions. They enjoyed strong bipartisan support in many cases, building on public opposition to the Iranian regime. The California law, for example, passed the State Assembly and the State Senate unanimously.

Read More . . . .

Barely hanging on in California

Hang on, it's a long way down

The once Golden State has become an over 

priced, over populated asphalt jungle.

(Orange County Register Editorial)  -  California remains the Golden State for most of us, a place of opportunity and fantastic weather. But for an increasing number of our residents, it is a place of perpetual economic struggle.

The difficulties are detailed in a new study by United Ways of California, “Struggling to Get By: The Real Cost Measure in California 2015.” The RCM is a new formula that takes into account California’s high cost of living.

It found that 31 percent of Californians were living in poverty in 2012-13. That’s higher than the 23.4 percent poverty rate, the worst in the nation, found in an October 2014 study by the U.S. Census Bureau.

A big cause, obviously, is the high cost of housing. According to a March analysis by the California Legislative Analyst, “Today, an average California home costs $440,000, about two–and-a-half times the average national home price ($180,000).”

Another big factor is the ongoing exodus from the state of decent-paying jobs for workers with few skills, Bill Watkins told us; he’s the executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University. “California used to manufacture Firebirds and Camaros,” he said, until General Motors’ Van Nuys assembly plant closed in 1992. Aerospace also has been hit hard by consolidation and moves to other states.

On the positive side, Tesla opened a plant in Fremont in 2010. But it was not part of a new trend, and the electric car company picked Nevada for its new battery plant.

California’s population continues to grow because of immigration from other countries. But Mr. Watkins also pointed to the net domestic migration of California residents to other states, especially Texas and Arizona.

Unfortunately, ongoing government actions will make poverty even worse. Minimum wage increases statewide and in such cities as Los Angeles and San Francisco will destroy the crucial first jobs for many of the young and low-skilled. Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, continues to drive up manufacturing costs. Possible higher taxes, ironically, to deal with poverty, will kill more jobs.

Things will change only when voters put into office pro-growth politicians.

Read More . . . .

How about the quality of life?
People who deliberately want to live like this are mentally ill.

350 sham California commissions suck down tax dollars

"Corruptus in Extremis"

• The Democrat legislature keeps funding sham commissions so their buddies can have cush jobs and expense accounts.

(Aljazeera America)  -  More than 350 commissions, committees, councils and boards call California home, but few citizens and elected officials know exactly what they do.

Take the Senate Advisory Commission on Cost Control, for example. Its goal is to find new ways to reduce costs and improve efficiency in state programs, according to its website. When America Tonight asked legislators if they knew of the commission or what it does, none did.

America Tonight looked into the track record of the group and, beyond a few reports, it was difficult to find out exactly what the commission does, despite hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses and salaries.

Since 2010, more than $150,000 was spent on travel by the commission, which is composed of 13 appointed unpaid commissioners and one salaried executive director.

One bill racked up more than $2,600 in rental cars, although the identities of the renters and the purpose of the rentals remains unclear. Another invoice showed American Express travel bills for $70,000. Some records were completely blacked out, including the purpose of travel, making it difficult to figure out how money was spent, who spent it and why.

It’s also unclear when the commission meets. Its website has no dates, minutes, agendas or schedule. But a public records request revealed that the commission met once in 2010 and again in 2013. An agenda item on the 2010 meeting was to “make the Legislature aware the commission exists.”

“I think it’s pretty clear you are not doing anything if the Legislature doesn’t know you exist,” said Doug Johnson, an expert on state government and a fellow at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College. After looking at the expense reports and the commission’s website, he added, “This is way up in the absurdity ranks. It looks like they didn’t do anything. And the title of the commission is classic — the Cost Control Commission. And they are spending money and not saving it.”

“I think it’s pretty clear you are not doing anything if the
Legislature doesn’t know you exist.”
Doug Johnson
Fellow at the Rose Institute Claremont McKenna College

Across the U.S., states have had to do their fair share of belt tightening, and California is no exception. But America Tonight has discovered one area that hasn’t felt much of a squeeze: hundreds of obscure committees, commissions and councils — some claiming to help cut government waste.

But some groups, like the Cost Control Commission, may be doing anything but that.

Melissa Kludjian, the commission’s executive director, was a paid staff member before recently retiring. She defended the commission’s performance to America Tonight, saying the Legislature is to blame for not acting on the commission’s reports. The website shows the commission generated six studies since 2003, mostly done by academic institutions.

“I think it’s a bogus, sham commission, and I’m embarrassed by it,” said Laura Chick, California’s former inspector general of stimulus funds. “There is a state auditor that is looking for cost savings. There is an office of finance looking for cost savings. It’s redundant, and it’s doing nothing.”

The Cost Control commissioners are appointed by the Senate Rules Committee, which is chaired by Senate Pro TemKevin de Leon. When America Tonight asked him at the Capitol what the commission has accomplished, he was unable to answer.

One legislative unit that got de Leon’s attention in December was the Office of Oversight and Outcomes. It was a legislative unit staffed with three former investigative reporters whose mission was to improve transparency and accountability within government. During its five years, the group produced 27 reports on various issues, many of which led to state Senate hearings and prompted reform legislation, according to a report by the group. Despite that record, de Leon eliminated the office late last year, calling it a cost-cutting move.

Seat on some of California’s 350 committees, commissions and councils have long been considered soft landings for termed-out legislators or places to put a friend or allies. Some positions are full time and come with a salary and benefits, but the vast majority are part time or volunteer. 

In 2005, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to eliminate 88 commissions and committees but had little success.

“He thought it would be an easy win, and it didn’t turn out that way,” Johnson said. “This was personal. This was ‘The governor tried to fire personal friends of the legislators.’”

When Brown became governor, he consolidated and eliminated several boards and commissions in his 2012–13 budget, but the state still has well over 300 commissions, committees, councils and boards.

While many do good work, Chick is concerned that nobody is seeking accountability from those hundreds of commissions.

“It’s criminally wrong to be wasting public dollars that are so desperately needed in other ways. And it upsets me that other officials are upset and they go, ‘Oh that’s just the way we play the game.’ No! That’s not the game we should play!”

Read More . . . .

California GOP worries Donald Trump's trash talk could hurt its image

Trump - "P.T. Barnum of the modern age"

• Trump forcefully brings up vital issues that are ignored by the professional political class.  The problem is when you use insulting language your message is lost.  
• If it was ever serious at all, the Trump campaign was defeated on day one when he insulted the Mexican people.  The latest insult to POWs like John McCain is just proof of a total disregard for the feelings of other people. 

 (Los Angeles Times)  -  As he intended, Donald Trump has hit a nerve.

"We've got 15-16 very serious people running for president — and one clown," fumed Shawn Steel, California's representative to the Republican National Committee, the GOP's organizing body. "Trump is a pig, and he's coming in upsetting every cart he can find, throwing dishes off the table."

"Intolerable and inexcusable," declared the state Assembly Republican leader, Kristin Olsen of Modesto. "Somebody who has never been active in the party and is looking for his 15 minutes of fame."

The derision sounds personal because it is.

For years California Republicans have tried to change their party's image, to invite everyone into the pool — especially Latinos, whose enmity arose after a 1994 GOP effort to block immigrants without proper papers from state services. And now, the architecturally coiffed, anger-venting Trump has cannonballed in, disrupting the presidential race with factually incorrect and caustic criticisms of immigrants from Mexico.

Republican Assemblywoman Ling-Ling Chan
The party is "embracing the changing demography of the state—which is
why the Trump situation is just absolutely irritating," said Ling Ling Chang,
a GOP Assembly member from Diamond Bar who emigrated from Taiwan.
Also see: Asian Americans Give New Face to County GOP

Olsen and Assembly Republicans quickly denounced Trump's remarks. The party's leader in the state Senate, Bob Huff, criticized him too. Some leaders encouraged the state party to come down on Trump, but it has not.

The state Republican chief, former legislator Jim Brulte, who has worked to broaden the party's reach, has declined to critique any candidate and said voters would make their judgment in June's primary. The national party also declined to criticize Trump's immigration comments, though it released a statement Saturday upbraiding him for mocking Arizona Sen. John McCain's war record.

California, of course, provides a searing lesson in what happens to a political party confounded by issues resting on demographic changes. As the numbers of Latino and Asian voters have risen, the GOP's ability to win statewide races has vanished.

Still, the party is not what it was in 1994, when Proposition 187 succeeded at the polls — it was later largely tossed by the courts — only to define Republicans harshly.

Now, almost 30% of Assembly Republicans are women — a higher percentage than among Democrats. Five of the 28 caucus members are minorities. Seventeen are both white and male, a description that used to apply to the entire caucus.

The party is "embracing the changing demography of the state—which is why the Trump situation is just absolutely irritating," said Ling Ling Chang, a GOP Assembly member from Diamond Bar who emigrated from Taiwan.

"The California Republican Party is not the same as the national Republican Party," said freshman Assemblyman Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley, who blamed cable news for merging the two. "When you have that diversity and interacting with folks, it does begin to shape your mind in a different way. I think that's good."

Read More . . . .

RETARD ALERT! - Boehner Blames California Drought On Obama

Folsom Lake near Sacramento (Before & after drought)

Boehner: "Liberals caused the drought"

• Help!  As a Conservative John Muir Conservationist I have to wonder, is there anyone left in the GOP with a brain?  
• To bottom line this, the GOP is financed by water thirsty corporate agribusiness.  They are looking for any excuse to rape the Sacramento Delta and turn it into a dust bowl.
• I suspect that given half a chance the modern GOP would vote to sell Yosemite to developers using the excuse that it will "create jobs".

(Think Progress)  -  House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) took to Facebook on Tuesday to recast California’s worst drought in 1200 years as a “man-made water shortage” — not worsened by climate change, but by President Obama himself.

He also asserted that, in the midst of the historic Dust Bowl conditions, Americans still have a God-given right to green lawns.

Boehner, of course, famously said in May that he is “not qualified to debate the science over climate change.” That just affirmed what was clear from his bizarre 2009 assertion: “The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical.”

But admitted scientific ignorance doesn’t slow the Speaker down. What has sparked his blinkered outrage this time is this photo he posted on Facebook:

Boehner brags here about what “Congress is doing to end President Obama’s man-made water shortage in the West.” Indeed, the House just passed a bill that essentially blames environmental polices for causing the drought, specifically policies that reduce water use to protect endangered fish species.

But actual scientists aren’t saying environmental uses caused California’s worst drought in 1200 years. Actual scientists explained earlier this year that the primary extent to which the drought has a man-made component is that man-made global warming is making it a lot worse. Man-made warming, they said, has led to record high temperatures. And according to the National Science Foundation, climate change has tripled the chances of the current weather pattern that has blocked California from getting precipitation (the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge).

Meanwhile, Boehner is outraged that people are being urged not to maintain their water-intensive green lawns in a semi-arid region during this epic drought. From his Facebook post:

If ever there was a phrase that perfectly encapsulates liberal environmentalists’ backwards priorities and regressive ideology of restriction and scarcity, it is the one now displayed on a government sign in Arcadia, California: “It’s ‘green’ to go brown.”

For the record, the soil moisture deficit in the state is truly unprecedented as measured by the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). Again, according to actual scientists, “the current event is the most severe drought in the last 1200 years, with single year (2014) and accumulated moisture deficits worse than any previous continuous span of dry years. … In terms of cumulative severity, it is the worst drought on record (-14.55 cumulative PDSI), more extreme than longer (4- to 9-year) droughts.”

Read More . . . .

Drought at Bidwell Marina at Lake Oroville

California bill ends grand jury hearings for police killings

Maybe it is time

• With calls of racism as the backdrop, the Democrat State Assembly put limits on Grand Juries.  In general I do not trust these un-elected secret panels that are manipulated by District Attorneys looking to make a name for themselves.

(The Tribune)  -  The California Assembly has narrowly advanced legislation to end the use of secret grand jury proceedings to investigate police shootings.

SB227 passed Thursday on a 41-to-33 vote, the minimum needed. It now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown for consideration.

The legislation by Democratic Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles is among several bills introduced in response to nationwide protests over police slayings of unarmed black men.

Grand juries did not bring criminal charges against officers who killed men in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island.

Mitchell says the secret proceedings are unfair and not transparent.

The California District Attorneys Association says grand juries are more transparent and fair in California than in other states.

There was no debate on the bill, but Republicans were opposed and several Democrats withheld votes.     Read More . . . .

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/07/16/3723990/california-bill-ends-grand-jury.html#storylink=cpyRead More . . . . 

31% of Californians are in poverty

Look Around You

• Everywhere you look in California there is an explosion of new 99 cent stores and thrift shops selling used clothes.
• While Californians struggle we see the open borders Democrats and Republicans importing millions and millions of new legal and illegal workers.

LOS ANGELES – (INT) - Almost 1 in 3 California households struggle each month to meet their basic needs, according to a report released Tuesday by United Ways of California. 

The report finds that 3.2 million California households do not earn enough income to account for the types of expenses-food, rent, health care-that are essential to maintain even an adequate level of economic security. 

Not only do these households not have enough money to save for the future or afford "luxuries" like eating out, but they are forced to confront tradeoffs each month about whether to forgo necessities like child care or doctor's appointments in order to make ends meet.

Some of the key findings from the ‘Struggling to Get B’ report: 

One in three California households (31%) do not have sufficient income to meet their basic costs of living. This is three times the proportion officially considered poor in California, according to the Federal Poverty Level. 

See our other articles:
‘You're Fired – Now Train Your Much Cheaper Foreign Replacement’
and
Only 39% of U.S. youth have jobs - A future of poverty

Households led by people of color disproportionately are likely to have inadequate incomes. 51% of Latino households and 40% of African American households have incomes below the Real Cost Measure. This is followed by Asian American households (28%) and white households (20%). 

60 percent of households led by a non-citizen struggle to get by. By contrast, 1 in 4 native-born Americans and 36% of naturalized American citizens are below the Real Cost Measure. 

Just over one-half of households with children under six years of age (51%) fall below the Real Cost Measure. 

Nearly 2 in 3 (64%) households maintained by single mothers have incomes below the Real Cost Measure. In contrast, just one-fourth of married couples with children (25%) are below the Real Cost Measure. 

Two-thirds (68%) of householders with less than a high school education have incomes below the Real Cost Measure. That number falls to 13% for those with at least a Bachelor's degree. 

Struggling households spend over 50% of their income on housing, and families living below the Federal Poverty Level can spend as much as 80% of their income on housing. 

Two full-time, minimum wage jobs are not enough to sustain a family of four. Yet, two-person, two-child households with two full-time, minimum wage earners earn $33,280 in gross income still fall below the Real Cost Measure by $10,000 to $30,000, depending on where they live. 

Struggling to Get By also uses the Elder Index refined by researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development to take an in-depth look at senior-led households. Despite seniors' different needs and work-force participation than younger adults, Struggling to Get By finds that a similar share-almost 1 in 3 (31%) are struggling. 

(Inland News Today)

Democrats in California: "Work permits for farmworkers here illegally"

Importing Cheap Labor For Farmers

• The politicians pay American citizens not to work, and then import cheap foreign labor to help the profit margins of the agribusiness corporations that give mountains of campaign money to the politicians.  This is corporate welfare.
• My Mom grew up on a farm and helped harvest crops.  It was not that long ago that Americans, not imported foreigners, worked on our farms.

(Los Angeles Times)  -  Frustrated by Washington's inaction on immigration issues, California lawmakers are considering a measure to allow work permits for farmworkers living in the country illegally.

A similar effort died three years ago, opposed by immigrant rights groups and the state's powerful labor unions.

The legislation, which is backed by California farmers, sailed through the Assembly in June and is pending in the state Senate, where its prospects are uncertain.

The bill, which sponsor Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville) is quick to differentiate from existing guest worker programs, would create a group to seek authority for the proposed program from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Rather than grant temporary work visas to foreign laborers, as some other programs do, Alejo's proposed program would give permits to individuals already residing in the state without authorization and working in agriculture.

The laborers and immediate family members — spouses and children under 18 or enrolled at an accredited institution — could remain in California without threat of deportation. The workers would have be at least 18, have performed a minimum amount of agricultural labor in the state and pay a fee to help cover administrative costs.

Read More . . . .

A
Shock!  -  Scots work on farms.
For thousands of years the Scots have somehow managed to plant and harvest their own crops without importing Mexican labor. . . . But to racist U.S. politicians working on a farm and getting your hands dirty is beneath the dignity of an American.  Instead we pay American citizens of all races not to work and import Hispanics.

A
Shock! -  Kenyans work on farms.
For thousands of years the Kenyans have somehow managed to plant and harvest their own crops without importing Mexican labor. . . . But to racist U.S. politicians working on a farm and getting your hands dirty is beneath the dignity of an American.  Instead we pay American citizens of all races not to work and import Hispanics.

,

Shock!  -  Chinese work on farms.
For thousands of years the Chinese have somehow managed to plant and harvest their own crops without importing Mexican labor. . . . But to racist U.S. politicians working on a farm and getting your hands dirty is beneath the dignity of an American.  Instead we pay American citizens of all races not to work and import Hispanics.

A
America the Lazy.
In a Marxist re-distribution of the wealth, Americans of all races are paid by the government to do nothing while foreign labor is imported.  The Socialist plan is to crush the work ethic and make Americans the helpless, childlike and unarmed wards of the state.

Chicana "Action Center" executives charged in $8.5-million fraud case

Leftists used $35,000 in taxpayer funds to charter a yacht in Seattle.

It Beats Working For a Living

• If a Democrat lacks job skills for real world jobs they can always be hired to run phony committees or "charities" that claim to help the poor and homeless.
• So many millions of tax dollars just rolling around.  So few eyes watching how the money is spent.

(Los Angeles Times)  -  For decades, the Chicana Service Action Center received millions of dollars in taxpayer money to help some of the county's most disadvantaged residents: the homeless, the unemployed, victims of domestic violence, foster youth looking for work.

The nonprofit organization also played a pivotal role in launching the political career of former County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who described herself as one of the group's earliest supporters. In the last few years, its influence had gone far beyond its Eastside origins, extending its reach from downtown to the eastern edge of the San Gabriel Valley.

Now, prosecutors have charged three of the group's executives with embezzlement and conspiracy, accusing them of participating in a "billing scam" that defrauded the county of more than $8.5 million, according to the district attorney's office.

Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey's office alleges that Sophia Esparza, the Chicana center's chief executive officer, used public funds to pay for expensive cars, homes, meals and even a political campaign fundraiser. Roughly $1.8 million went toward Esparza's "lavish" lifestyle, prosecutors say, including season tickets to the Dodgers and Clippers and rent on a home in affluent San Marino.

The district attorney's complaint says Esparza improperly used $35,000 in taxpayer funds to charter a yacht in Seattle; $81,873 to purchase a 2010 Jaguar in Pasadena; and $145,653 to cover five years' of rent at the Visconti, an apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles. None of those purchases were authorized by the group's board of directors, the complaint states.

Prosecutors also allege the three defendants created "fraudulent records and/or client files" to support the monthly invoices that were sent to the county's Department of Public Social Services.

The nonprofit received more than $16 million in county funds between 2007 and 2014, operating job training, domestic violence counseling and other programs in locations such as Pomona, San Gabriel and East L.A., according to county officials.

Read More . . . .

Sucking on the Government Teat
Why work for a living if your insider friends can get you a job spending other people's money.