I AM THE FORCE

These legislators never cease to amaze me. Within a week of the latest conviction in the caucus scandal, State Senator Julie Lassa issues the below press release to create a hotline to report government "waste, fraud and mismanagement." This is the same Julie Lassa that sued critics for libel only to pull the plug when evidence of her own wrongdoing surfaced. Lassa dropped her lawsuit after her staff and a disk from the Assembly Democrat Caucus confirmed that state employees created her campaign materials on state time using state resources. Now, she would like to create a hotline to expose exactly that kind of abuse.

Sen. Lassa: Promotes State Fiscal Responsibility
1/3/2006
Contact: Senator Julie Lassa (608) 266-3123

(Madison) – Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) testified today before the Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland
Security, Military Affairs, Small Business and Government Reform in favor of legislation that she authored to create a
fraud, waste and mismanagement hotline at the Legislative Audit Bureau. Senate Bill 80 requires the Legislative Audit
Bureau to create a waste, fraud and mismanagement hotline where state employees and the general public can call
anonymously 24 hours a day to report misuse of state funds. “This proposal is a necessary step in making state
government more accountable,” said Lassa. “By providing citizens and state employees an opportunity to report
mismanagement in a neutral and non-partisan setting we are insuring that state government agencies and organizations
who receive state grants are using taxpayers’ dollars appropriately and efficiently.” Lassa said that 14 other states have
already adopted this type of hotline including the state of Ohio. The Ohio state government has received 639 reports of
fraud in the first six years of its program, and reclaimed $16.1 million back for the state treasury. “It is up to us as
legislators to provide the appropriate mechanism to gather information on misuse of taxpayer money and to act quickly
on weeding out any fraud or mismanagement,” said Lassa.

Lassa is showing incredible stupidity, arrogance or both. She broke the law, got away with it, and now wants to encourage whistleblowing on everyone but herself?

It also underscores the continuing problem with Brian Blanchard and his caucus investigation and convictions. Because he made a decision to target only a few of the top individuals, and not pursue all of the evidence, we are left with scores of legislators operating like innocents who broke the law and cheated taxpayers just like Burke or Jensen. Lassa is just the most foolish of a very large crop of cheaters who escaped culpability due to Blanchard's subjective whimsy.

It's sickening to hear Brian Blanchard lecturing us about the convicted or about-to-be-convicted bad guys when the massive herd of legislators who were caucus beneficiaries continue their jobs unquestioned and unopposed. Brian Blanchard has the evidence to convict at least 50 legislators like Lassa, but he just decided to go after half the ringleaders instead. And the legislators are so arrogant about getting away with it that they issue the kind of ridiculous press release just written by Senator Julie.

When the Jensen case is finished, this entire sorry affair is going to slip out of the public consciousness with the idea that we got rid of a few bad guys. Never mind that the rest of the violators go unprosecuted and only one of the convicted was truly a bad guy. Blanchard should be forced to release all John Doe evidence so we can all judge for ourselves which lawmakers deserve censure. Untill he does and the media pays attention, we'll have to forever live with this hypocritical amnesia.