Oh what a tangled web they weave.. :-)
Obama’s former Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, provided some insight into the corruption that permeates her management style at the University of California and which was surely covered up by the her equally corrupt comrades within the Obama regime.
An audit of the University of California reveals that Napolitano had a hidden “rainy day fund” stashed that nobody was supposed to find out about, to the tune of $175 million. The secret fund existed at the same time that the University system was claiming to be in dire financial straits and requesting a funding increase.
The means by which the surplus was accumulated was deceptive as well, with Napolitano overestimating the amount of money needed to run the school system. Napolitano disputed the auditor’s claims, saying in a statement, “The true amount is $38 million, which is roughly 10 percent of (the office’s) operating and administrative budget, a prudent and reasonable amount for unexpected expenses such as cybersecurity threat response and emerging issues like increased support for undocumented students and efforts to prevent sexual violence and sexual harassment.”
Naturally her default is to “security” and the “social justice” issues that have become a mental disorder in California and other liberal enclaves.
The state auditor, Elaine Howle, reported that between the years 2012 and 2016, the University inflated funding need estimates. She also noted that a top Napolitano staffer intercepted confidential surveys which had been sent to each campus, with responses that were critical of Napolitano deleted or changed before being forwarded on to the auditors.
Howle said, “I’ve never had a situation like that in my 17 years as state auditor. My attorneys are looking at whether any improper government activities occurred.” She said Napolitano also overcharged the 10 campuses to fund its operations, overpaid its employees relative to state employees and interfered with the auditing process. Of course a cover up is to be expected from an Obama Democrat, it’s how they operate.
Howle wrote in her report, “Taken as a whole, these problems indicate that significant change is necessary to strengthen the public’s trust in the University of California. In effect, the Office of the President received more funds than it needed each year, and it amassed millions of dollars in reserves that it spent with little or no oversight.”
She budgeted more, spent less and accumulated the difference as a slush fund. How much of this was taking place at DHS during her tenure and after?
The lame excuses aren’t flying with the UC’s largest employee union, who normally are lockstep with anything a Democrat does or says. Union president Kathryn Lybarger said, “Today we learned that after squandering millions of public dollars on bloated management and unaccountable ‘initiatives,’ (the Office of the President) has effectively been operating a slush fund that shields hundreds of millions of public dollars from public scrutiny.” Is she surprised or just upset she and her union were excluded?
Lybarger criticized the office’s “skyrocketing executive pay,” referencing the audit’s uncovering the the ten executives in Napolitano’s office were paid a total of $3.7 million in the 2014-15 fiscal year — over $700,000 above the amount earned by their highest paid state employee counterparts.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, sensing a building scandal, questioned whether the decision to raise tuition from for the first time in six years, $12,294 a year, to $12,630 was appropriate, given the surplus. He said, “It is outrageous and unjust to force tuition hikes on students while the UC hides secret funds, and I call for the tuition decision to come back before the Board of Regents for reconsideration and reversal,” he said.
Given Napolitano’s record on transparency and her lack of integrity, not only was this inevitable, there’s probably much more to the story, both in California and at DHS.
Thank you for reading and sharing my work
Rick Wells
