AP: Legal Aid Program Tried to Oust Auditor

[Eugene]

Legal Aid Program Tried to Oust Auditor

By LARRY MARGASAK
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 23, 2006; 1:09 PM

WASHINGTON -- Directors of the government's legal aid program for the poor
secretly debated how to fire the auditor who exposed their expensive meals,
use of limousine services and headquarters move to a ritzy neighborhood.

Meeting transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show that Legal Services
Corp. board members in 2005 and 2006 disparaged Inspector General Kirt West,
whose job is to find fraud, waste and abuse.

-snip-

Board members warned themselves to be careful in their actions toward the
internal watchdog, fearful that retaliation would anger Congress and jeopardize
their federal dollars.

While board members complained among themselves about how much time they spent
discussing their watchdog, the corporation said in a public report that the
program for free legal help turned away half the applicants for lack of
resources.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/23/AR2006092300380.html

[wellstone dem]

1. While this was going on

new attorney staff in the field often work two jobs so that they can pay school loans, while doing the work they love.

[rodeodance]

2. $14 "death-by-chocolate" desserts.

West still has his job.

He conducted an expansive review of spending by board members, who are part-time, and top full-time program executives. According to an Associated Press account in August, some of the questionable spending that West brought to light included:

_$14 "death-by-chocolate" desserts.

_$400 for a car and driver to take Strickland and other officials to attend meetings and functions within cab distance of the Legal Services headquarters.

_$200 taxi rides in Ireland by the Legal Services president, Helaine Barnett, who was attending a conference.

West also reported the corporation was overpaying by as much as $1.8 million on its 10-year lease in its new headquarters in the upscale Georgetown section of Washington. He also found that the corporation could be overpaying by $7 million for unneeded space.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Frank B. Strickland -Chair

Frank B. Strickland of Georgia is Chairman of the Legal Services Corporation and a partner in the Atlanta firm of Strickland Brockington Lewis LLP. President Bush nominated Mr. Strickland to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation in 2002. He was sworn in as a member of the Board and elected Board Chairman in April 2003.

[LiberalFighter]

4. Lillian R. BeVier -Vice Chair

The President has signed the recess appointment of Lillian R. BeVier of Virginia to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for the remainder of a three-year term expiring July 13, 2004. The President nominated Ms. BeVier on April 9, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003.

[LiberalFighter]

5. Jonann E. Chiles -Member

Jonann E. Chiles, of Arkansas, to be a Member of the Board Of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a Term Expiring July 13, 2008, vice Robert J. Dieter, resigned.

[LiberalFighter]

6. Thomas Alexander Fuentes -Member

Thomas Alexander Fuentes
Position: Member
Legal Services Corp (11)
Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement: March 26, 2002
Date Nomination Sent to the Senate: January 24, 2005
Date of Confirmation by the Senate: July 28, 2005

[LiberalFighter]

7. Herbert Sydney Garten -Member

Herbert Sydney Garten
Position: Member
Legal Services Corp (11)
Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement: April 1, 2003
Date Nomination Sent to the Senate: April 2, 2003
Date of Confirmation by the Senate: April 11, 2003

[LiberalFighter]

8. David Hall -Member

David Hall
Position: Member
Legal Services Corp (11)
Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement: April 10, 2003
Date Nomination Sent to the Senate: April 10, 2003
Date of Confirmation by the Senate: June 27, 2003

[LiberalFighter]

9. Michael Dennis McKay -Member

Michael Dennis McKay
Position: Member
Legal Services Corp (11)
Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement: March 26, 2002
Date Nomination Sent to the Senate: January 9, 2003
Date of Confirmation by the Senate: April 11, 2003

[LiberalFighter]

10. Thomas Richard Meites -Member

Thomas Richard Meites
Position: Member
Legal Services Corp (11)
Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement: April 1, 2003
Date Nomination Sent to the Senate: April 2, 2003
Date of Confirmation by the Senate: April 11, 2003

[LiberalFighter]

11. Bernice Phillips -Member

Bernice Phillips
Position: Member
Legal Services Corp (11)
Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement: September 17, 2003
Date Nomination Sent to the Senate: January 24, 2005
Date of Confirmation by the Senate: July 28, 2005

[LiberalFighter]

12. Sarah Michael Singleton -Member

Sarah Michael Singleton
Position: Member
Legal Services Corp (11)
Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement: September 29, 2005
Date Nomination Sent to the Senate: October 6, 2005
Date of Confirmation by the Senate: March 13, 2006

[sofa king]

13. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

http://www.co.fulton.ga.us/news_events/news_detail_T401_R598.html

The 5-member Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections was sworn in recently by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Wendy L. Shoob for a 2-year term. Chair Juanita M. Eber (center) begins her first term on the board. Other members who are returning are (from left) Harry MacDougald, Frank Strickland, Cynthia Williams and Samuel Westmoreland. As is the custom, two members are selected by the Fulton County Republican Party (MacDougald and Strickland), and two members are selected by the Fulton County Democratic Party (Williams and Westmoreland). The chair is selected by the Fulton County Commission. The Board sets policy and oversees the conduct of registration and election functions in Fulton County. (Photo courtesy of Fulton County Department of Communications)

Who is Harry MacDougald, you ask? Why, he's better known as Buckhead, the Freeper typography expert who brought down Dan Rather.

What an amazing coincidence.

Edit: Unlike Mr. MacDougald, I'm not a shill for anyone. I'm a damned good researcher who plays his hunches, and that hunch took all of ten minutes to confirm with Google. My methodology was this: See Strickland is from Atlanta. Think to self what other suspicious Republicans I know from Atlanta. Remember Buckhead. Look him up. Google "Frank Strickland" "Harry MacDougald." Done.

Edit 2: Dan Rather, not Mike Wallace.

[wellstone dem]

14. the lsc's response

http://www.lsc.gov/press/pr_detail_T7_R19.php

CBS quote: "Whistleblower allegations include tax dollars used for questionable trips to foreign countries ...."

Fact: The only trip to a foreign country paid for by LSC in the past three years was a trip to the International Legal Aid Group (ILAG) conference in Ireland. ILAG meets every other year to discuss new approaches to legal aid in the participating countries. Officials representing LSC have been participating in the biennial conferences since the group started in 1994.

CBS quote: "Whistleblower allegations include tax dollars used for ... first class travel ...."

Fact: LSC travel regulations do not permit the use of first class travel under normal circumstances. In only one case in the past three years has a first class ticket been purchased by LSC, and that was when the Chairman of the Board was asked with little notice to come to Washington to testify at a Congressional hearing. Even then, he was able to purchase a first class ticket at less than what the government rate would have been for a coach ticket from Atlanta to Washington. On another occasion, Continental Airlines upgraded the president of LSC to business first class based on her frequent flyer status with Continental for less than LSC had contracted for a coach ticket. .......

.....

[sofa king]

15. Do you guys see my post above? Recommend this NOW!

To summarize:

Mr. Strickland sits with Harry MacDougald on the Fulton County Elections Board. MacDougald is "Buckhead," the guy who set up Dan Rather with those supposedly forged Bush draft documents.

MacDougald is also the fellow who investigated the security of the Fulton County electronic voting machines and found them to be just fine, just in time for the '04 elections.

Can you smell the fishiness? Strike while the iron is hot!

[ms liberty]

16. Just K&R'd sofa king's heads up on this...

since this is the OP that sofa king was referring to, I'm giving this a K&R also!

[madmusic]

17. K&R and charge!

Get 'em!

[madmusic]

18. Important cases

I have reviewed this yet, but these guys are involved in VERY important cases:

Date: June 20, 2001

To All LSC Program Directors

From Randi Youells, Vice President for Programs

Subject: Interim Guidance on 45 CFR Part 1639 in Light of the Supreme Court’s Decision in Legal Services Corporation v. Velazquez, et al.

On February 28, 2001, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Legal Services Corporation v. Velazquez, et al., Nos. 99-603 and 99-960, 121 S. Ct. 1043, 2001 WL 193738 (U.S.), striking down as unconstitutional the restriction prohibiting LSC grantees from challenging welfare reform laws when representing clients seeking specific relief from a welfare agency. LSC intends to revise its regulations at 45 CFR Part 1639 to bring them into conformity with the Supreme Court’s Velazquez decision. In the meantime, however, LSC is issuing this interim guidance on the effect of the Velazquez decision on LSC’s regulations.

http://www.rin.lsc.gov/Reference%20Materials/Refrmats/Progltrs/Prgltr2001_3.htm

Be on the lookout for any the wingnuts intentionally lost.

[madmusic]

19. High court appears skeptical of rules for legal services lawyers

By Tony Mauro
Special to
The Freedom Forum Online

Supreme Court justices seemed poised yesterday to rule that certain congressional restrictions on Legal Services Corp.-funded lawyers violate the First Amendment.

During oral arguments in a case testing the regulations, several justices appeared to tip their hand with comments sharply critical of the limits on litigation that legal services lawyers can undertake.

The restrictions were imposed by Congress in 1996 to rein in LSC, viewed by Republican leaders as a runaway agency that funded lawyers to pursue a social agenda and to make trouble for the government.

A ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld all the restrictions except one that prohibits LSC-funded lawyers from taking on cases that question the constitutionality of a state or federal welfare-reform law or regulation. In Legal Services Corp. v. Velazquez, and U.S. v. Velazquez, argued before the high court yesterday, the government is trying to resurrect the restriction.

The corporation, which funnels $300 million annually to local agencies for legal representation of the poor, fought the restrictions at first, but has defended them in court ever since they became law.

New York lawyer Alan Levine, arguing on behalf of LSC, defended the law as a permissible constitutional choice by Congress to fund certain activities and not others. The law was valid, he said, under the Supreme Court's 1991 decision in Rust v. Sullivan, which upheld Reagan-era restrictions on the ability of government-funded medical clinics to offer counseling on abortion.

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=3244

EDIt: more at link

[madmusic]

20. Legal Services Corporation itself is wingnut!

The National Campaign to Repeal the Legal Services Corporation’s “Private Money Restriction”

Quick Links:

* Call on Congress to Improve Legal Aid for the Poor -- join the campaign
* National Association of Evangelicals Urges Congress to Fix Restriction -- click here
* Read the Letter to Congress from 31 Leading Faith-Based Groups -- click here
* Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr: Let's Heal Legal Services -- click here
* Read Rev. Eileen Lindner's Letter to the Editor of The New York Times -- click here
* Read The New York Times Editorial "Separate and Inequitable" -- click here

To participate in the litigation or the campaign, please contact:
Rebekah Diller, Associate Counsel, at [e-mail] or [phone], or
David Pedulla, Research Associate, at [e-mail] or [phone]

___________________________________________________________________

The Problem for Low-Income Families and Private Philanthropy

A large and growing alliance of national and local organizations has come together to educate the public about the harm to America’s low-income families, and to private charitable efforts to help those families, caused by the Legal Services Corporation’s “private money” restriction.


http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/pov/dobbins%20national%20campaign/index.html