Press release from House GOP:
House Republicans Blast Democrats' Plan to Abolish OPEGA
Say politics, not budget savings, is the real agenda

AUGUSTA - As the budget debate moves to center stage in the Legislature, House Republican leaders today urged the Democrats to strip out a provision that would abolish the independent agency that investigates and exposes government waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement. The watchdog group - the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA) - has been targeted for shutdown as part of the majority party's plan to reduce the state budget by $190 million.

"It seems clear that the Democrats trying to kill OPEGA don't like independent investigators exposing wasteful spending and shoddy management," said Rep. Bob Crosthwaite (R-Ellsworth), the assistant leader of House Republicans. "If I were a liberal Democrat, I'd like to get rid of OPEGA, too."

"This surprise attack on OPEGA flies in the face of Democrats' claims to favor government transparency and efficiency," said Rep. Josh Tardy (R-Newport), leader of the House Republicans. "It makes no sense to eliminate an agency that potentially could pay for itself many times over. The economic forecast for the next few years is not encouraging. If we have to find additional budget cuts going forward, OPEGA's reports on waste, duplication and inefficiency would be valuable assets to help legislators make intelligent decisions."

Late on the night of Thursday, March 20, as budget negotiations hit a stalemate on how to cut the final $15 million, a budget amendment was submitted by state Sen. John Martin (D-Eagle Lake) to basically terminate the seven-member OPEGA staff to save approximately $1.2 million. The amendment summary states that it would "implement the elimination" of OPEGA and reassign "key functions to other legislative offices."

"We saw the budget negotiations coming to an impasse, and we knew we would see a Martinesque maneuver," Rep. Crosthwaite said. "He did not disappoint. Some Democrats never wanted OPEGA to begin with, and they are using this budget process to get rid of an investigative arm that could expose serious waste in the state bureaucracy."

The Martin amendment would shut down the Government Oversight Committee (GOC), to which OPEGA reports, and replace it with a new Joint Standing Committee on Program Evaluation and Government Accountability. The key difference is that the GOC is equally balanced 6-6 between Republicans and Democrats, while the joint committee would be comprised of eight members of the majority party and only five from the minority party. The legislation would enable the new panel to exempt any government department or agency from review if two-thirds of the committee members agree.

"The devil is in the details of this amendment," said Rep. Tardy. "An objective analysis could conclude that the real intent is to block investigations of certain departments for waste, fraud, redundancy and inefficiency. Indirectly, this is an attack on the hardworking taxpayers of our state."

In its brief history, OPEGA has already found more than $20 million in potential budget savings. In an OPEGA review of 46 different economic development programs in state government, costing taxpayers over $200 million per year, the investigators reported that 94 percent of the programs "do not collect or maintain sufficient data to allow analysis of overlap and gap between programs."

"The OPEGA report on the state's disorganized economic development units is a classic example of the kind of inefficiency that has long been hidden in the bowels of the bureaucracy," said Rep. Crosthwaite. "What exactly are taxpayers getting for this annual cost of $200 million? Who knows? The whole thing is a black hole.

"If there is one thing a bureaucracy detests, it is someone shining a spotlight on it," Rep. Crosthwaite added. "OPEGA is now beginning an investigation of certain parts of the Department of Health and Human Services, a behemoth bureaucracy of 4,000 people and countless programs. My instincts tell me that the people trying to kill OPEGA do not want to see that department investigated."

Since the startup of OPEGA operations, the agency has been appropriated a total of $2.45 million through fiscal year 2007, but it has actually spent $1.56 million, coming in below budget by $898,089 over the four years if its existence. Last year, it was appropriated $928,698 but spent $714,868, returning $242,244 to the General Fund.

"OPEGA is unusual among government agencies in that it doesn't spend its whole budget," said Rep. Crosthwaite. "It tries to save money wherever it can."