-Caveat Lector- > No. 1312July 22, 1999 > > > TIME FOR CONGRESS TO HOLD THE LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION > ACCOUNTABLE > > VIRGINIA THOMAS AND RYAN H. ROGERS > > Link to: > | Full Text | PDF (746k) | > Note: PDF version contains both the Executive Summary and the > Full Text. > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Produced by > The Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies > > Published by > The Heritage Foundation > 214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E. > Washington, D.C. > 20002-4999 > (202) 546-4400 > http://www.heritage.org > > > <Picture: Heritage 25: Leadership for America> > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > ------- > > > The Legal Services Corporation (LSC), a federally funded agency > that provides free legal aid to the poor through 269 grantee > offices around the country, is asking Congress for a $40 million > increase in funding for fiscal year (FY) 2000. The request, which > will be considered under the Commerce, Justice, State, the > Judiciary, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, represents a > 13 percent increase over FY 1999 funding--despite the fact that > various government watchdogs and the media have reported serious > problems with the LSC's case-reporting statistics and performance > numbers. > > Information on the LSC's handling of cases is important because > it is the only tangible information on the agency's overall > performance currently available to Congress. Congress relies on > the accuracy and integrity of reporting on performance measures > to determine the amount of funding agencies should receive, and > agencies use their performance numbers to justify their budget > requests to congressional appropriators. Until this year, > Congress has not seriously questioned the accuracy of the LSC's > reported numbers. But preliminary audits conducted by the LSC's > own inspector general (IG) in 1998 have caused Members of > Congress and the media to question the accuracy of LSC's 1997 > caseload data. > > Every program audited by the IG, and more recently by the U.S. > General Accounting Office (GAO), since the 1997 case statistics > were released in the LSC's 1998 Factbook has demonstrated serious > misreporting of the LSC caseload, and this has given rise to > concerns about systemic performance deficiencies throughout the > agency. In fact, the IG and GAO audits reveal that for 11 > grantees that reported 370,000 cases, only 198,000 cases were > deemed valid. > > For the most part, audited LSC grantee offices overstated the > number of cases handled, either because the cases were ineligible > to be counted in the first place or because a case was counted > more than once. In other instances, the statistics were inflated > because telephone contacts and nonexistent cases were included in > the numbers. Investor's Business Daily even quoted a former LSC > employee who said that telephone calls made to the LSC offices > were counted as cases simply to "build up numbers to report to > LSC and other funding sources." Despite the heightened scrutiny > the agency received due to mounting evidence of misreporting, LSC > officials still have not been forthcoming with accurate data for > Congress. > > As early as July 1998, the agency's inspector general told LSC > President John McKay that case statistics at several offices were > seriously flawed. In October 1998, when it approved a $17 million > increase in LSC funding--the first such increase in two > years--Congress was still unaware of this information. In fact, > the LSC's leadership did not report these performance problems to > Congress for another five months, until March 1999. The agency > should have viewed the IG's findings as serious enough to bring > to the attention of Congress before this $17 million decision was > made. > > As the evidence of management problems has emerged, many Members > of Congress have become concerned that the LSC misled Congress > intentionally. On May 3, 1999, five Members asked the GAO to > audit additional LSC grantee offices to assess how widespread the > reporting error problem is before Congress considers LSC funding > for FY 2000. The GAO's recently released findings further > discredit the LSC's 1997 case numbers and raise serious questions > about all of the data supplied by this federal entity to > Congress. > > No one would deny that the less privileged in society benefit > significantly from free legal assistance. But it is entirely > unacceptable for Congress or the states to continue to disburse > taxpayer funds to LSC programs without considering credible and > accurate information on how current money is being spent. Indeed, > just as donors would alter their charitable contributions if they > learned a charity had misrepresented its activities in its annual > report, so too should Congress be vigilant with taxpayer dollars > when LSC misrepresents the number of clients served. > > In 1993, Congress passed the Government Performance and Results > Act with bipartisan support and the Administration's stamp of > approval. The act codified Washington's desire to hold federal > programs accountable for their performance and their use of > taxpayer dollars. It is useless, however, unless Congress can > rely on the information provided by federal agencies. Without > accurate information about the performance of Legal Services > Corporation grantees, Congress cannot hold the agency accountable > for its performance. > > Congress should demand that the LSC immediately release its > overdue 1999 Factbook so that Members can consider 1998 caseload > data during the FY 2000 appropriations process. It also should > reduce FY 2000 funding to offset the funding provided in previous > years with overinflated statistics; conduct oversight hearings; > and, to secure better information in the future, establish both > quality and quantity measures that allow it to verify the > accuracy of the LSC's information, including requiring annual > independent audits, preventing the LSC from administratively > changing the definition of reportable cases, and applying the > Federal False Statements Act to the LSC and its grantees. > > Once Congress has a clear picture of the agency's performance, > Members should ask first whether the federal government should be > running this program. If not, funding should be transferred to > the U.S. Department of Justice to provide block grants to the > states based on the number of eligible poor in each jurisdiction. > > --Virginia L. Thomas is a Senior Fellow in Government Studies and > Ryan H. Rogers is Research Assistant in Government Studies at The > Heritage Foundation. > > > > > > Link to: > | Full Text | PDF (746k) | > Note: PDF version contains both the Executive Summary and the > Full Text. <<The question becomes: how good is their legal advice if they can't get their client base straight? >> >From www.heritage.org/library/backgrounder/bg1312es.html A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." 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