AND THE GOVERBNMENT WASTE JUST KEEPS ON COMING...

….The GAO Building in Washington DC

 

Whether in the military or with health care, the waste continues.

 

We are always hearing how there is all that “waste and corruption” in our government, whether it in the military, in health care or anywhere.  That waste is obviously a real problem and it seems like every time they do something to fix the waste, another problem just pops up.

 

Well, some things never change and this time one of the areas that has been brought to the nation’s attention is that none of the different military services seem to have a handle on their recruitment advertising costs.  As expected,  the Government Accounting Office (GAO) has found in a number of government activities, “unnecessary duplication, overlap and fragmentation in health care and in Pentagon recruitment efforts.  These issues may be the result of the absence of proper coordination and oversight.” This is according to the GAO report.

 

As an example, “The Air Force has three advertising programs that contract with three advertising agencies, but officials could not provide a rationale for requiring three separate programs.”

 

“Due to the lack of oversight, without fully measuring advertising performance,” the GAO said, “The Department of Defense (DOD) may be unable to ensure advertising dollars are used efficiently to help meet their recruiting goals.”

 

Last November, Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Arizona Republicans, released a report critical of the Pentagon practice of paying sports teams to honor service members.

 

“In 2013,” the senators’ report begins, “a roaring crowd cheered as the Atlanta Falcons welcomed 80 National Guard members who unfurled an American flag across the Georgia Dome’s turf.”  Little did those fans know that the National Guard had actually paid the Atlanta Falcons for this display of patriotism as part of a $315,000 marketing contract.  The senators stated, “This kind of paid patriotism is wholly unnecessary and a waste and abuse of taxpayer funds, and it must end.”

 

This type of practice was “later deemed unacceptable by DOD,” the GAO report said “the absence of DOD oversight may have contributed to some activities of questionable appropriateness. …Without a department-wide policy that clearly defines its oversight role, DOD lacks reasonable assurance that advertising is carried out in an appropriate manner.”  The Pentagon generally agreed with GAO’s recommendations.

 

The Library of Congress today says the first ever paid for recruitment advertising was the “I want YOU” poster.  This poster was “originally published as the cover for the July 6, 1916, issue of Leslie’s Weekly with the title ‘What Are You Doing for Preparedness?’ ”

 

…The first Military ad

 

The government oversight report released by the Arizona Senators offered new details about how the Department of Defense (DOD) paid professional sports teams and leagues for patriotic displays honoring American soldiers.

 

 

Recent changes to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2016, prohibits these kinds of expenditures. “What we take issue with,” wrote the Arizona Senators, “is the average fan thinking teams are doing this on behalf of the US military.”

 

NASCAR was the biggest recipient of this DOD ad money, getting $1,560,000 for fiscal year 2015. Included were personal appearances by driver’s Aric Almirola and Richard Petty, as well as 20 Richard Petty Driving Experience ride-alongs. The expenditures, according to the DOD, were “integral to its recruiting efforts.” However, a NASCAR official told the Washington Post in an email: “NASCAR has a long-standing history of honoring America’s military. Each year, we recognize active duty service members and veterans at races around the country. NASCAR has not been paid by the military and would never accept military funds to recognize those who have served.”

 

Really?  Then where did that $1,560,000 for fiscal year 2015 end up going?  Just another DOD oversight?

 

In total, the military services have reported $53 million in spending on marketing and advertising contracts with sports teams between 2012 and 2015. More than $10 million of that total was paid to teams in the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Soccer (MLS).

 

The DOD report cites contributions to 18 NFL teams, 10 MLB teams, eight NBA teams, six NHL teams, eight soccer teams, as well as NASCAR, and some American universities.

 

 

The Atlanta Falcons, for instance, were the top recipients, getting $879,000 over four years. Over the same period, the New England Patriots received $700,000 and the Buffalo Bills $650,000.  Why these were the big winners, no one seems to know…?  And why doesn’t every major league team receive the same amount of the advertising revenue, and how were these decisions made…?

 

David Tillotson III, assistant deputy chief management officer at the DOD, sought to assure the GAO that the Pentagon “has always taken its duty to be an excellent steward of taxpayer dollars very seriously, and we look forward to working with the GAO on improvement opportunities.”

 

But when these military costs are compared to the expenditures in health care, the GAO also found that because of this same limited oversight, “some hospitals total Medicaid payments exceeded the hospitals’ total operating cost — that is, cost for all hospital services provided to all patients the hospital served.”  So, whatever issues the GAO has in following the spending on military recruitment advertising, those same oversight problems appear in many other bureaucratic government areas.

 

Speaking for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mr. Patrick Conway has said in a written testimony that the agency is “using a multi-faceted approach to strengthen our programs by more closely aligning payments with the costs of providing care”.

 

 

Now Mr. Conway is a perfect example of government bureaucracy at its finest.  That’s because Mr. Conway’s official government title is 20 words long.  Mr. Conway’s official title is the: “Acting principal deputy administrator, deputy administrator for innovation and quality, and chief medical officer, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services.”

 

It has been suggested that the GAO should examine how much money could be saved in printing costs, if government titles were limited in length.

 

Just think of all of the above as "your tax dollars at work".

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016