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The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing was the culmination of a U.S. House of Representatives investigation focused on J. Robert Flores, a U.S. Department of Justice administrator, accused of passing over highly ranked grant applicants — including WSU-affiliated National Child Protection Training Center — for less-qualified applicants in a competitive grant program managed by his department.
The investigation was sparked by WSU officials, who after reading an investigative article by the trade publication “Youth Today” detailing how the funds were disbursed, expressed their concern to Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. Walz then contacted Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the committee’s chairman, who initiated the investigation into the actions by Flores’ office.
Lawmakers have accused Flores of awarding money to groups who share his political philosophies or whose officials have personal ties to him.
“We were devastated when we found out we didn’t get the funding,” said James Schmidt, WSU’s vice president for university advancement. “The department spelled out the criteria, they did the analysis, we came up with our proposal, and then to be bypassed, it was just devastating.”
The NCPTC, founded in 2003 and headed by WSU graduate Victor Vieth, provides training to law enforcement and child protection professionals who handle child abuse cases. Often on financial life-support since its inception, the NCPTC had relied on earmarks from Congress as it developed a child-advocacy studies curriculum in universities throughout the country.
In fiscal year 2007, a moratorium on earmarks allowed federal agencies that had monitored those funds greater discretion in how they were disbursed. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the DOJ office administered by Flores, received $8.6 million to award to programs that had national missions to prevent and respond to victimization of children or juvenile delinquency.
The money was supposed to be awarded through a competitive bid process. Walz questioned whether that occurred.
“I have no faith in Mr. Flores’ office making impartial judgments,” Walz said.
Over 100 organizations applied for grant money. Their applications were peer reviewed by OJJDP staff members, given a numerical grade on how they fulfilled application criteria and ranked. Review teams forwarded 18 applicants to Flores for consideration as recommended, along with 86 programs with lower ranks.
The WSU’s NCPTC, ranked fourth by the teams with a score of 96.5 and recommended to Flores, was passed over for a grant, as were the top-six scorers. In all, Flores awarded only five recommended applicants with grants, while five nonrecommended applicants received awards, including one ranked 53rd.
That application was submitted by the Best Friends Foundation, founded by Elayne Bennet, wife of William Bennet, who served in the George H.W. Bush and Reagan administrations. A House hearing memorandum states Flores had “frequent personal contacts with the Best Friends Foundation and its founder, Elayne Bennet.”
Also criticized was a grant award to the 47th-ranked World Golf Foundation’s “First Tee” program, which “promotes character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf,” according to the memorandum.
A call to the DOJ seeking comment for this story was not returned.
“I don’t want to tie his hands, but why waste all the time on the peer review process?” Walz said of Flores at a press conference. “It’s about having the perception of a level playing field.”
At the hearing, lawmakers questioned Flores about how he determined grant winners. In the NCPTC’s case, Flores stated in his written testimony the organization was passed over because his office already invests in programs to prevent and address child abuse and exploitation. Flores also said the NCPTC’s association with the National District Attorney’s Association, which received an award under a different solicitation, caused him to bypass them.
The center’s Vieth and Schmidt questioned those rationales. The NCPTC was no longer funded by the NDAA before the grant winners were announced. If not for anonymous donors and a $1.22 million earmark secured by Minnesota legislators Walz and U.S. Sens. Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar, the center might have closed. Vieth’s program is now affiliated with the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children.
Walz said the ultimate goal in the investigation is to prevent what he felt was the bypassing of competitive grant processes in the future. With doubts being raised that Congress can pass a budget this year, increased discretionary funds may again be placed in the hands of federal agencies.
“We will take (Flores) at his word and continue to do our work here,” Vieth said. “Hopefully, we will have better funding fortune in the future.”
Fishnuts2 wrote on Jun 20, 2008 4:56 PM: