Copyright 1999 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
September 4, 1999, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: OP-ED; Pg. A28; LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
LENGTH: 289 words
HEADLINE:
Dubious Cases at LSC
BODY:
The editorial on
the Legal Services Corp. ["Legal Services Funding," Aug. 13]
glossed over the scandal that plagued LSC this year by saying that while a
General Accounting Office report suggested that there was an overreporting of
cases, LSC officials have attributed that "to a series of bookkeeping errors."
The reason LSC lost votes and credibility this time around is that last
year its officials allowed Congress to pass final funding for LSC on Oct. 21
based on false and inflated case totals. The case count was the top argument
used by LSC in its pitch for a $ 17 million increase, which it received. Indeed,
LSC President John McKay recognized the link between the huge case count and
funding when he stated, "Case statistics play an essential role in the budget
request and performance plan submitted by LSC to the United States Congress each
year."
The "bookkeeping errors" explanation is laughable in light of
audit results showing nearly 70 percent of closed cases at four programs to be
invalid, 14,000 phone calls misrepresented as legal cases and one program
overreporting its case totals by 800 percent. The GAO investigation confirmed
"substantial errors" in case counting at the largest legal services programs,
finding that less than half the claimed cases at the Baltimore and New York
programs were legitimate.
The House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial
and administrative law holds its LSC oversight later this month. Perhaps these
same officials can explain why case statistics that play such an "essential
role" were so distorted and why the public, the media and Congress were not
entitled to the truth.
KENNETH F. BOEHM
Chairman
National Legal and Policy Center
McLean
LOAD-DATE: September 04, 1999
