THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407060022
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LAWRENCE MADDRY
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
I KNOW I HAVE bad-mouthed state officials from time to time, but we try to be fair around here - well, OK, at least once every two months.
So this month I want to say a few nice words about the state's Employee Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline.
I know a lot of you cynics out there are thinking the hotline is a way of having the defrauders, wasters and abusers communicate with each other - the way cons in the prison do it by using the toilet pipes as phone lines.
Not so. This one appears to be an honest effort to keep the few bad apples who work for the state from either stealing us blind, spray-painting graffiti on our highway overpasses with four-letter words or using a state tractor to plow their backyard garden.
The credit for the hotline really goes to former Gov. Douglas Wilder, who is not normally shy about reminding us of the great things he has done. I suppose he has boasted of this one, too. If so, he's right. It's a great idea, a splendid program.
It is working so well that even Gov. George Allen likes it and mentions it on the radio broadcasts he does over a statewide hookup. And small wonder. The hotline was begun in the fall of '92 and so far has saved the state pretty close to a million dollars.
In case you haven't heard about the hotline, here's the way it works. A citizen or a state employee can report instances of fraud, waste and abuse by state employees by phoning a toll-free number: (800) 723-1615. Callers are never asked to reveal their names. But the hotline folks do give callers case numbers and ask them to phone back, days later, in case there are follow-up questions that might help in an investigation. But nobody learns the identity of the whistle-blower.
Last week, I phoned John Huston, the state internal auditor, who oversees the hotline. He says the hotline has received 1,600 phone calls since it was begun and that about 35 percent of the calls coming in are acted upon. As with any hotline of this kind, many of the calls are frivolous or petty. Others may be about something the state is already investigating.
``We have two different statuses for the cases we work,'' Huston said. ``Those involving significant fraud or waste are investigated within 30 days.
``Investigations of less significant cases must be completed within 90 days.''
Huston said that Allen has given full support and encouragement to the program and that the quality of the calls is improving.
In case you were wondering what most phone calls are about, they are ranked by numbers of calls received to complain about the offenses:
1. Employee leave abuses.
2. Misuses of state-owned vehicles.
3. Unnecessary purchase of supplies and equipment.
4. Personal long-distance calls.
5. Conducting personal business on a state line.
6. Personal use of state equipment, including copiers and computers.
7. Job duties not performed responsibly.
8. Unauthorized and/or unnecessary attendance at conferences or training classes.
I wanted to name the department or division of state government involved in some of the offenses against the public trust and treasury and specific items, but Mr. Huston says that might jeopardize the anonymity of the informer, because some state agencies are very small. We quibbled about this point. I suspect he just doesn't want to embarrass a state agency unnecessarily, but he's due the benefit of the doubt.
Anyway, here are a few of the cases that have been reported over the hotline, just to give you an idea.
An employee intentionally withholding information and manipulating the procurement process to award a contractor $10,000 for services that were not needed.
Unbilled sales due to poor agency record keeping and billing practices, a recovery for the state of $66,659.
Excessive spending on office furniture as a result of not procuring it from Virginia Correctional Enterprises (furniture made by state prisoners), resulting in an overpayment of $56,215.
Employee playing on agency's baseball team during work hours.
Rescheduling doctors hours and eliminating part-time workers at a university hospital, a saving of $52,000.
That million dollar estimate on hotline savings is conservative and could fairly be put at millions more because of the hotline's deterrent effect. And the losses reported to the hotline are only calculated for a 12-month period. Unchecked, a single, costly offense could go on for decades and cost millions.
My hat's off to the state for establishing the hotline. And to those anonymous callers out there for keeping an eye on those abusers of the goods and money that all of us provide through taxes. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
A citizen or a state employee can report instances of fraud, waste
and abuse by state employees by phoning a toll-free number: (800)
723-1615.
by CNB