State’s shopping questioned, defended

By   /   February 8, 2013  /   6 Comments

Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog

A statehouse feud involving top officials, including Auditor Mike Foley and one of the governor’s closest political confidantes, is now part of a major push to shed more light on big state spending.

During a public hearing on Friday lawmakers heard calls demanding that the Department of Administrative Services, the state’s biggest buyer and spender, make public who gets  contracts, how much they cost, and where any items were manufactured.

“Taxpayers have a right to know where their money is going,” said State Sen. Heath Mello who notes there is no current law requiring some much needed sunshine.

DAS attorney Bo Botelho testified against Mello’s bill (LB371) arguing that the legislation is “onerous” and would potentially cost the agency hundreds of thousands of dollars—from extra staff monitoring and compiling the information to added costs on the part of contractors, costs that would be passed on to the state in the form of higher bids.

Last year a Foley investigation uncovered questionable bidding practices, inadequate record-keeping  and erroneous accounting in the Material Division of DAS. In addition Foley said DAS failed to provide information his office requested.

“The taxpayers of Nebraska deserve better than what is occurring here,” Foley said.

DAS Director Carlos Castillo told Nebraska Watchdog the audit was full of holes adding, “What (Foley) wanted he got.”

Castillo ran Gov. Dave Heineman’s 2006 campaign, when Heineman surprised many defeating Nebraska football legend Tom Osborne.

Contact Joe Jordan at joe@nebraskawatchdog.org

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Joe Jordan

  • OutWst

    In terms of who’s right here, my money is on Foley. Hands down.

  • Joan

    I am just saying, if there is nothing to hide then lets get the DAS information out where we can all see it. If every thing is on the up and up then an investigation is a waste of time and energy. If Foley is correct, Nebraska, we have a problem.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jane-Martin/781250579 Jane Martin

    Go Mike!

  • JoeSixPack56

    For years, DAS tried to balance the state’s checkbook but they were regularly at least a Million dollars off. They couldn’t tell where over a million dollars was spent for many years. There is a major problem in the Governor’s office and Mike Foley should be given all the information he asks for so he can find it! Go Foley!!

  • Watching_From_Lincoln

    HeineyMan’s House of Cards is starting to implode. It has been a near decade of fiscal mismanagement in multiple Departments, embarrassing failures in every attempt at privatizing Government functions, not to mention several questionable financial ethics incidents with the Governor and senior members of his administration.

    The wannabe fascist puppets have had their chance, time for a new breath of fresh air in the Governor’s Mansion.

  • Guest

    First, this bill would not just apply to DAS as written. If the ammendments that Mello proposes pass, then yes it would. Second, this bill as written would apply to every single purchase including basic office supplies. Common sense tells us that knowing where the paper clips that are purchased were originated (manufactured) is really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It’s a broad-sweeping bill that would add hours of work to compile the information asked for. Mello acknowledged this could lead to a burdensome amount of work and therefore the contractors/supplies should be asked to provide the information when a contract/purchase agreement is entered. Does anyone here really think the contractor won’t charge for that information? They also have to have someone on staff compile it. Once again, Wathcdog’s article is full of holes and does not fully explain the effects of this legislation. Transparency is a must, but common sense needs to prevail.