Mindless or not, I think this story is going to stir up feelings that are going to be detrimental to real people who need the assistance. There is one thing to uncover egregious fraud, but when the general public perceive this as the norm they will throw the baby out with the bath water and that is not always the answer. These people should be punished if they are found guilty of any wrong doings. They cannot get a slap on the wrist, but something so harsh that it would make other people in the same situation think twice about defrauding the government. I am curious to see how this plays out. I hope the media follow this to it's conclusion.

I am not sure that the inspectors would have known that it was fraud. She may have told them that she only rented a room or a basement. Maybe they thought she was lucky to find someone willing to help her out like that, especially when you see some of the places that people live. I live in Seattle and even we haven't heard much about the case yet. I doubt it was the same person inspecting every year, so it seems unlikely to me that kickbacks were involved. I have a feeling that we are going to get an in depth look at the internal workings of DHHS. It is possible that inspectors were told to mind their own business and that it was only their job to check for safety. This woman should have had a social worker or a case worker who would have had regular contact and been in a better position to uncover fraud.

The government requires annual inspections of property covered by HUD rent subsidies. The inspections are safety related: The government wants to be sure that the public’s money isn't going to subsidize dangerous or uninhabitable properties.

Um... are there no rules about providing assistance to people that are clearly not attempting to live within their means??? A person earning less than $30k per year can't be covered by insurance if they have cancer, or welfare if they have kids, or protection from banks if their house is being foreclosed, and yet these dirty f***ers are getting ZERO questions for living in a $1.2 million home! WTF!?!?!?! How a$$ backwards is our gov't qualification system? I would really like to see what their annual income is before accusing the feds of getting kickbacks. $135,000 in 8 years isn't a whole lot to spread around to case workers. Perhaps this is just another pathetic case of gov't workers saying "I don't have time to look into this any deeper, so I won't".

Well, considering what he does for a living, hopefully the "mindless bureaucrats" at Medicare are paying attention. I would bet a months income he is committing fraud. Defrauding Medicare/caid and other payers is much more lucrative.

I agree with Lolly - the inspectors should be able to put 2 and 2 together and get 4...It is not that hard...same with the abuction of Dugard and the half hearted inspections they made...just lazy people not concerned with doing a good job.

And liberals wonder why conservatives want less government...

I'm not saying by any means that these officials were pro-liberals helping a fellow liberal steal money from the gov't. I have no idea if there was any relationship between the officials and the woman, or of anyone's political standing, but the reality is that this kind of thing happens with large government systems. The bigger the government is, the more of these there will be. A city government handling the same systems would be less likely to generate problems like these.

Keep government as small and local as possible to achieve its job!

So is this the FED, stupidity times nine equals bureaucratic morons. I guess were supposed to be surprised by this news but there really is no way to know just how far the fed can really take outright ignorance and stupidity.

C. Smith - that's it exactly. That's EXACTLY why conservatives want smaller government. What I don't understand is why this is such a difficult concept for liberals to understand - and it's what makes me so angry with liberals, that they do have such a difficult time understanding this.

Sheesh Seattle Libs, you really did it now. I know you've lurched left but this is ridiculous.

The Libs want a "Fantasy" Path that maintains that nothing is wrong, Social Security and Medicare will survive without any structural reforms, and that there are no problems with the "Welfare Empire" that keeps nearly 50 million Americans in poverty.

Obama rolled back all the Clinton Welfare protections that guarded against fraud. So now we have rampant fraud thanks to Obama's poor decisions.

Happy, have you ever tried to talk to anyone that works for the government? Some of them can't even walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone add two and two together.

Inspectors visited the home at least nine times. all the inspectors should be fired! end of story

And liberals wonder why conservatives want less government...

I would think this is an argument for more government - if you want to bring that debate into it. We need more and smarter inspectors and the like, not less.

Time to put a lifetime limit on welfare benefits.

C. Smith - thank you for correctly stating why people like me are for smaller, locally focused government.

Byron - this wasn't a case of not having enough government resources to get the job done, this was a case of ineptitude on the part of the government workers. You don't need to pay much to get an inspector that realizes there was probably a problem with this situation. I worked for government for a year making low 20's, and I could have spotted this. You don't need to pay someone a large salary to spot this type of thing.

Let's not forget that a young woman in Texas was faced with an 18 page application for food stamps and was refused!

there are frauds all through the country, both rich and not rich.

The answer is to stop the fraud, not to stop helping the poor.

Maybe performance based pay for inspectors would help?

remember the Garrido thing

In a report issued Wednesday, the state inspector-general's office found the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to properly keep tabs on Garrido or properly supervise the officers assigned to his case.

Don't know about a lifetime limit but maybe make it so that you cannot receive welfare for more than 2 out of 5 years.

Not even sure why she would be able to get welfare. Weren't their children grown? If you look at the dollar amount, it is probably not too far out of the norm, but the house is way out of the norm, and would have rented for much more than that. That is what should have flagged the inspections. Why is someone renting them a waterfront house worth $1.2 million for only $1350 a month?

Byron,

One would only think it is an arguement for more government if that person is perpetually leaning towards more government. Any rationale person could see that the bigger government gets the more issues like this occur, until there is a crescendo of outrage towards it. Then the police state gets into high gear at the insistance of a outraged populace and we all lose all of our unalienable rights

Mindless bureaucrat...bureaucratic morons...can't walk and chew gum at the same time. This is all real cute, but let me give you a piece of my mind from an offended federal government employee point of view. I've worked hard to get where I'm at. I've served my country in the armed forces during war time. I've achieved a high level of education with hard work. Everyday I strive to make my workplace more efficient, organized, and open to the public as possible.

Are there government employees that are lazy and inefficient? Yes! You'll find that anywhere, public or private. Don't try to tell me otherwise, I've worked both. The "just getting by" attitude is pervasive in every workplace.

Have any of you haters considered calling for the "bureaucrats" heads really understand what's going on here? No, you don't. All of you and your insults are clueless at best. It is not the jobs of the inspectors to rip into the private life of this lady. As far as they know, she could have been a live in nanny/housekeeper with a 15,000/year wage raising 3 kids. Their job was to make sure she's living in a safe environment, and they did their job.

Like I said, clueless.

So we know who these inspecors were, why have they not been fired for derilection of duty ? They get to kee their checks, health care and fat pensions even though they allow the taxpayer to get shafted ?

I found one glaring mistake in the article: this guy is a "chiropractor", not a real doctor

or, as my old man used to say: "almost a doctor"

It sure looks safe to me! ..lol Typical bureaucrat ... "Not My yob!"

And liberals wonder why conservatives want less government...

Now that's funny! George W. Bush and fellow Republicans pushed the American Dream Downpayment Act that was passed in 2002. This was sponsored by a Republican, co-sponsored only by Republicans, passed by the HR and Senate with significant Republican majorities and signed into law by a Republican president. HUD, FHA FannieMae and FreddieMac were pushed to make low downpayment loans to minorities. Bush lauded and took credit for GSE innovations like ARM mortgages. He directed the GSE's to invest money in the secondary mortgage market, the first to fail when the economy crashed.

George W. Bush caused the housing bubble and justified it all on the basis of helping unqualified minority homebuyers purchase homes.

And yet, somehow, liberals are the ones to blame for all government giveaways?

Beg pardon but I don't recall the article saying the perpetrators were aligned with any party or political idealilsm. I'm pretty liberal, but taking advantage of the system like this is unforgivable. They should have the book thrown at them. They should also be punished to the greatest extent of the law, and have to pay back every penny with interest and all their vacation pictures burned. Then they should have the book thrown at them again.

C. Smith and others, to make the argument that less centralized and more local government provides better results is one thing, but that's never what you generally hear. Instead, it's always, ALL regulation is bad, ALL government is bad, ALL taxes are bad and therefore there should be less of ALL of them. This is the position that we liberals are generally opposed to.

And now we all know the meaning of the cliché "Close enough for government work."

And liberals wonder why conservatives want less government...

That's EXACTLY why conservatives want smaller government.

C Smith, grilled cheese,

How exactly is MORE government in our bedrooms, telling us who we can and can not love, "less government"?

How exactly is MORE government in our bodies, telling us what we can and can not do with it, "smaller government"?

How exactly is MORE government in our gardens, telling us what natural plant we are allowed and not allowed to grow, "less government"?

How can you push MORE government, and call it less? Your logic is mind-numbing.

Why don't you act like an adult, man-up, and admit that you want less government ONLY in programs you oppose, and MORE government in programs you support. Stop being a coward and admit your true intentions. MORE is not "less", no matter how you justify it.

Don't get me wrong, I can get on board with less government. But I am not going to be some pathetic hypocrite that calls for "less government" while demanding MORE of it in our personal lives.

I would think this is an argument for more government - if you want to bring that debate into it. We need more and smarter inspectors and the like, not less.

Byron, I laughed until I realized you weren't joking and now I'm sick to my stomach. The only answer a liberal knows is more government. The Government shouldn't be in the business of dolling out other people's money in the first place.

Classic example of regulating while being blind.

On the surface the inspectors did their job properly, which I believe was to ensure the home is habital. I believe the only requirement if you are a recipient of Section 8 housing, is to find a property owner willing to join the program and rent to you within the rates available to the program entitlement for the size of your family.

In this case it appeared as though this is why the woman had no qualms about the inspection, and she qualified accordingly, potentially for the max available based on the size of the family, location and market of the property.

Should the inspectors have reported this as being unusual...YES. Did their jobs require them to do so...NO. Beauracracy attempts to define the purpose and scope of every aspect of operations to qualify for continued funding. In doing so they put blinders on their employees and prevent them from thinking about anything except their direct duties as described by their job description. In fact bringing issues like this to the attention of your superiors may even get you fired.

My point here is the devil is in the details, it took 100 to tango, not just 2, and we will not fix this simply by firing someone.

George W. Bush caused the housing bubble - absolutely the dumbest thing I've read all week. I understand your bent on blaming all problems on republicans but please look up Glas-Steagul act and how it created the bubble without party bias. I'm not blaming either party, can you be impartial or is the brain washing irreversible?

More info on how Section 8 housing assisstance works:

Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) - find your own place and use the voucher to pay for all or part of the rent. To apply, contact a http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/pha/contacts/index.cfm

It makes one think maybe the inspectors were getting paid off in some way to stay quiet. Just let them stay in jail for 10 years, pull their visa so they can't leave this country anymore and pay everything back and take back all of their personal property of value.. It would be nice if the inspectors had to help pay back a portion of it also. Make them think about their job more, in doing it right...

George W. Bush caused the housing bubble and justified it all on the basis of helping unqualified minority homebuyers purchase homes.

1. Go to Youtube

2. Search "barney frank fannie mae"

3. Watch the numerous videos that show how HE and other libs pushed the housing crisis from a pimple to a national hemorrhoid (and then blamed Bush)!

4. Come back here and post same.

grilledcheesesandwich

C. Smith - that's it exactly. That's EXACTLY why conservatives want smaller government. What I don't understand is why this is such a difficult concept for liberals to understand - and it's what makes me so angry with liberals, that they do have such a difficult time understanding this.

Yep...because a couple who are obviously wealthy are defrauding the government, let's go after the poor. Typical T-Publican logic..."keep your govmint out of my Medicare"

The inspectors were there to inspect the property, to see whether it was up to code in regards to safety, cleanlines, bugs, pests, maintainance of property etc.... just like they would have done for an apartment building. Their role in the inspection was not to search the property for fraudulent behaviour.... that sort of search would require a search warrant and possible suspision of illegal behaviour.... so stop with the blaming of the inspectors, they did their job of the yearly inspection which would make it 9 times that they went to the property.

If there were red flags then it would have come during the application for benefits process when she would have been required to present proof of need etc or when applying for continuation of benefits. Who knows she may have applied as a Russian emigre.. or some thing like that... Wonder if she came into the country on one of those 'bride' programs.....

These people were careful and probably had a room or apartment type space in a portion of house where the woman would have stated was her space etc...

Well at least they have been caught.... perhaps a red flag went up somewhere and the paperwork was sent over to the fraud unit for investigation... did you know all insurance companies etc have these units?

What is more amazing is that they have not been arrested .... yet. Anyway just providing they are not still being paid any money or receiving any benefits... and their passports have been seized...

If this is happening amoung the upper income crowd.... makes one wonder how many more there are that is doing this sort of thing amoung them.... while complaining about the poor...

The amazing thing is that they were caught in the first place.... as this is not the behaviour that 'those ' folks are 'supposed' to exhibit.... LOL

Perhaps that is why it lasted so long because if they were low income people living in a poorer neighborhood no doubt they would have been turned off the program and in jail already ..... just saying..

This sort of thing happens because there are not enough workers to provide the oversight necessary to catch these sort of things or even to investigate it.....especially with the push on for less oversight and less civil servants/govt employees/smaller govt....and the defunding of govt departments like even the EPA, NOAA, FDA, food and safety inspectiors, FBI etc. Wasn't it noted that about 500 thousand govt workers have been pink slipped so far?

This sort sort of illegal activity will become more prevalent or remain unchecked or uninvestigated as we continue to decrease the size and oversight ability of govt departments that protect the citizens from fraud and abuse etc imo.

How many more millions of dollars are being stolen by folks like these tony types as they game the system? hmmm

See repub con teabagger dino.... smaller govt = less people/employees = less oversight, less investigations etc.... perhaps that is what you folks really want.. .. huh?

Dr Larry - Amazing how powerful Barny Frank is, isn't it? Why don't you mention the role played by the investment banks and hedge fund companies? You remember don't you? Those useless derivatives used to insure the crooks would make money at the expense of common investors?

Shimonova received $135,000 in housing assistance.

Hello? In some places that's enough to BUY a four bedroom house.

Why it's almost as much as the annual SUBSIDY given to every rich family in America under the so-called 'Bush tax cuts' that Boehner, McConnell, and the rest of the crooks are so fond of.

I would like to know when the Feds are going to start investigating the Wall Street Banksters who raped millions of Americans 401 pensions??????

Where's the Justice here when they go after the wrong crooks...

1. Go to Youtube

Dr. Larry - you do know that Youtube is not a credible news source, right?

Say whatever you want, say it however you want to...

Fact is, Bush pushed loaning housing mortgages to people that were NOT good risks. From a Bush speech:

First, the single greatest barrier to first time homeownership is a high downpayment. It is really hard for many, many, low income families to make the high downpayment. And so that's why I propose and urge Congress to fully fund the American Dream Downpayment Fund. This will use money, taxpayers' money to help a qualified, low income buyer make a downpayment.

From another Bush speech:

...you don't have to have a lousy home for first-time home buyers. If you put your mind to it, the first-time home buyer, the low-income home buyer can have just as nice a house as anybody else.

There you have it. From the horse's own mouth. You should have a decent house no matter what your ability to pay for it! That's what led to the mess we are currently working through. Not "liberal" policies, conservative policies gone wrong! And what makes you think that conservatives will do any better next time?

"Why it's almost as much as the annual SUBSIDY given to every rich family in America under the so-called 'Bush tax cuts' that Boehner, McConnell, and the rest of the crooks are so fond of."

Typical twisted lib logic. Calling a reduction in a punitive rate is a "subsidy." It is in no way a subsidy. It's their money to begin with, not yours. I guess it's any argument you can attempt to rationalize outright theft, eh?

Most wealthy would have no trouble paying more in taxes, but why should they, when it simply gets gobbled up by an ineffectual, overbloated, self-feeding bureaucracy?

The "end the Fed" mantra should apply to federal government in general. Government should be concentrated back at the state and local levels. The standardized, check-the-box, one size fits all approach at the federal level breeds inefficiency and ineffectiveness via lack of accountability and lack of consideration of the value of every taxpayer's hard-earned dollar they spend...

Govt workers doing what they do best, NOTHING. Being paid to do jacksh*t. I want a job where I get paid, for doing nothing. Many more are doing this, they're not alone.

Now you know why liberals want more tax money. I'd bet, in addition to "Oy Vey Silverstein", there are probably around 80%-90% of these people on wellfare doing something similar. I got one next door that has a husband living with her and her 3 kids...he is not supposed to be there which is why she qualified in the first place. Yes, he works full time. I've spoken to him about his job. Additionally, she works under the table, babysitting 4-6 kids a week. Almost all of them do this...no doubt. I was at the Hard Rock Casino one time and while standing in line, two women that knew each other started talking. One asked the other what she was doing now and the other said she had a friend that asked if she wanted to work full-time at her laundry mat. She didn't want to lose her "government money" so she worked out a deal to work part-time under the table. On welfare and part-time under the tabe...did I mention we were at the casino?

I personally think we should crap can welfare and let these people live the way leeches should live...on the balls of the arses. How many times have many of you seen gold teefes and 24's on an Escalade rolling into the hood? I see it all the time. Nails, hair extensions and gold teefes! I'm sorry, but 1 out of a 100 is legitimately paid for. The rest are screwing the tax payer and voting democrat because they want to do their best to keep that government money coming in. Until the Dems and the Repubs agree to let these generational welfare mooches take responsibility for their life and spawn, we are going to have that constant sucking sound called a growing national debt.

I vote for getting rid of section 8 and welfare. We can keep food banks and free vaccinations, but get rid of the rest. There should be a war on welfare!

The people who are wrong in this story are the people who tried to falsely claim benefits from the welfare system.

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who knows people who work for Health and Human Services. With the increasing cutbacks in funding, each worker is having to take on more and more cases. That's got to be just as true in Seattle as it is here.

So the HHS professional comes in, looks around, sees that there are not any violations, and runs to the next client. Chances are, she doesn't have time to think about the ramifications of the situation. She has a whole slew of inspections to complete before the day is over.

And chances are that the inspector is focused on violations that would endanger the people who are living there. Her job is to make sure that government money is not going to landlords who do not maintain safe properties. It sounds like a difficult and potentially dangerous job.

If you want careful, thoughtful analyses that reach beyond the task at hand, you need to have more people working at these inspections, you need to change their official responsibilities, and you have to give them more time to really investigate. That means hire more people (a good thing, given today's job market) and pay them (which we can only do if the budget is increased -- not cut).

I love it...people still blaming Bush. Bottom line is, I bet if you asked every person on welfare which party they vote for, somewhere around 95%+ would say they are Democrats. What comes first, the chicken or the egg? Although many have a problem answering this question, I'll give you the answer...BOTH! As long as there is welfare, there will be Democrats and as long as there are Democrats, there will be welfare. Welfare recipients are probably the largest voter base for the Democratic party. From what I researched, there are approximately 40-50 million people on welfare. That is a significant amount of voters.

Inspectors visited the home at least nine times since Lyudmila Shimonova moved in -- yet none of the officials reported the possibility of fraud.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

Yeah BABY! And more of you buffoons want MORE government. Yes more incompetence, waste, fraud and abuse.

When will you learn that government does absolutely NOTHING effectively and cost effectively. A study shows the government owns over 50,000 homes. WHY? Because it's inefficient and corrupt.

We have hundreds of programs that are redundant and don't provide any service. Yet you want more.

Wake up America, government and our politicians need to be totally purged of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption.

Wasn't it small local government that allowed that city in California to get away with giving them selves raises into the hundreds of thousands per year?

Put too much work load on any person and job and it will suffer - people and machines break down - then the entire system breaks down. There have been so many cuts in Child Protective Services here in Arizona that there are now many kids living in danger because tight wads don't what to admit some people and systems need to be strictly enforced.

Wall Street saw regulations relax and look what they did. Watch the documentary Houes of Cards and you might actually get a clue. Tell me where less is more, is working, I'll wait.

How about the Bush Wars? How about the tax breaks for the Wealthy? Although these are fraudulent people, all recipients of aide are not bad people. The first clue should have been that he is a chiropractor.

2 illegal, unjustified and unneeded wars and unjustified tax cuts for the rich plus 16 trillion dollars the Federal Reserve Bank gave to the "To Big To Fail Banks". Welfare and subsidised housing is just a drop in the bucket. While faux news is keeping you red necks busy screaming about eentitlements, gay's and abortion, your Christian Neo-Con leaders and their rich friends are robbing America's future. "You can fool some of the people all of the time".

How were those wars "illegal"? Congress voted for them. And I'm sure you can rationalize some way why not asking for Congressional approval for the skirmish in Libya is OK. Let's not call it a war and everything is hunky dory. If Bush had pulled a stunt like that you'd be screaming.

BTW have you looked at any of those "poor" DNC congressmen/women and senators recently? Wealth isn't limited to the GOP. Have you paid any attention at all to who profited from the ALLOWED insider trading investments made by our elected officials? You don't for a minute think that they are just GOP do you? Pelosi is right up there as having profited immensely from stock trades after being provided with knowledge that would land you and me in the can.

But you are right, you sure can fool some of the people all the time. You appear to be living proof of that mantra seeing as you believe everything is only the fault of the GOP.

Can you PLEASE stay on topic?!? This story is about govt assistance fraud, not Bush or wars or banks or Obama.

If it were in my town, I'd be organizing an OWS-type sit-in in front of the house and submitting photos of the house and its occupants all over the internet. The fact that OWS protesters in Portland aren't raising cain about this is sort of what keeps me from becoming an OWS supporter. . .

The wars were legal as the decision to use force was voted on and passed in a bi-partisan fashion. Welfare and entitlements are not a drop in the bucket. They make up the bulk of federal spending.

Source: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/

As for the screaming, perhaps that sound is only in your head.

"How about the Bush Wars?"

That's strange Blasie, I don't remember Annie stating anything about this being a certain parties fault, did she? How about knocking off the political party rhetoric?

Only in America,

Exactly! I have lots of Democratic friends and most of them are concerned about the deficit. Fiscal conservatism isn't limited to Republicans.

GoUSA,

Nice job there, equating Social Security and Medicare with welfare. I'm sure that those who have gladly paid their payroll taxes for decades and included their benefits as part of their retirement income feel the same. That at 62, 65, or some later date, they will become welfare cases.

Your argument loses almost all creedence when SSI and Medicare are stripped away from your numbers.

This article is not about Bush or the wars so why don't you try to keep iton topic. Any kind of corruption/fraud is bad no mater who or what party is doing it. This article makes me sick. I also like the posts that say that maybe the inspectors did not notice... really? The huge freakin' HUD mansion did not give it away. I have pictures of myself and my Landlord up all over my place also. Its just people not wanting to do the extra paperwork. I doubt their a conspiracy, just people being LAZY.

Naw, bull@!$%#! Most of what explains our $14T debt is:

1. Two wars, one of which was fought on lies (WMD! WMD! What WMD?) and neither of which ended up on the budget. All the Afghanistan war and all the Iraq war was funded with "emergency spending" measures which oply guarantees that nobody can tell what the wars cost.

2. Tax cuts.. we couldn't afford them then and we damn sure can't afford them now! But Bush, Bush is gone. The evil that men do lasts long after they are gone.

Half of our current debt was racked up in two terms of a Bush presidency ($7.1T out of $14.1T) but nobody wants to put the blame where it properly belongs!

As for whether or not this is mundane to the discussion; every rightwinger here wants to blame liberal politics. Problem is, the Republicans spend more than the Democarts and collect less of the blame!

A little perspective:

To date, the entire cost of the Iraq war over all those years is ~$825B, which is approx. 1/2 of just one year's worth of the annual Obama budget deficit.

The projected total cost of the Bush tax cuts thru 2013 ranges from $1T to 2.1T, depending on which study you believe.

These issues do not account for the lion's share of the national debt.

Crap, I can tell you where the blame belongs and it isn't Bush. It was greedy people trying to live way beyond their means along with greedy banks and it is most of our welfare recipients. Additionally, it is because many American jobs have moved to other countries and it is illegal immigrants working in American jobs illegally. In fact, many welfare recipients should be working these jobs which would essentially eliminate the need for many to be on welfare. But then it is more OK to tax working Americans and make them pay for welfare then to make these people get off their rumps and go to work...and practice safe sex.

go usa

you might want to learn how to read a graph. welfare spending is on the low end only 11% total. you gotta love the 24% non specified spending for the politicians slush party funds pocket expenses though.

rob show me where you got the numbers for 825 billion. last 48 hours report i saw stated and showed proof that the iraq war was costing 1.3 billion a day. i think that adds up to way more then 825 billion over the years that it has been going on.

Pay no attention to rightwing nuts.

Or to leftwing nuts either. They both have no clue.

Both my rightwing nut and my leftwing nut hurt like hell, reading all this animosity between neighbors. It's like constantly being kicked in the wingnuts. We probably ought to be searching for things we could agree on, rather than each standing on opposite sides of the street and hurling insults. I observe that there are the same number standing on each side, now, so we will never overcome the opposition by any democratic means.

To get anywhere, 60% or so of us are going to have to meet somehow in the middle.

From what I've experienced, PAPERWORK is one of the top reasons for authorities to not perform their jobs properly. You see it with cops, social workers, city inspectors, etc... They don't want to dig because they don't want to be stuck at their desks until some unGodly hour.

Boo-effing-hoo!!!! If they wanted the job they should be willing to put in the hours. Even if it means getting writer's cramp! Their positions are way too important to have the luxury of slacking off.

The only exception I see to this rule is the IRS. Those jerks will look through every aspect of your life until they find a reason to squeeze more money out of you!

Just am FYI, the 10 "Richest" members of Congress, both Senate and House are ALL Democrats. Which party has the MOST members guilty of "Insider Trading" in the stock market while having dircect control over Regulations or Legislation affecting said stocks?? Right again, DEMOCRATS.

So every time you hear Pelosi, Reid, Kerry, Obama or the rest of the Democrats bashing/trashing "The Rich" for doing "whatever", remember they are talking about themselves and Projecting their own Evils and Faults on others. They are total HYPOCRITES.

Just Phil. I agree with you, however, I wonder if instead of a little something under the table, I'm wondering if it is a little something something in a bedroom. But this is all just speculation on my part.

These "inspectors" (quoted for a reason) need to be eligible for welfare, subsidized housing, & food stamps. To give them this opportunity, they need to be fired.

I don't know, I see idiots on here all the time saying that welfare recipients live high on the hog.

The article clearly states that the inspections were not looking for fraud (unfortunately) but, for safety violations; like, handrails, and smoke detectors, etc. Clearly someone dropped the ball here, however, the inspectors can easily say they were just doing their job.

Joe Paterno did his job, too. But some decided it wasn't enough. The inspectors did their job, too. Was it enough?

In my opinion, those receiving section 8 assistance should be living in houses that are safe, but below the average home value (if it is in a house) Section 8 housing (or free housing) should also be temporary (in most cases).

If the "government" were to have a maximum benefit of say 80% of the average rent and then allow the people on Section 8 to choose their houses and then if there is a difference between their rent/assistance, they get to use (if it is lower) the leftover amount. Some landlords receiving section 8 rent are also charging more than "fair" value because they can. I know of at least one.

I want to know how these people received housing assistance for that long of a time period?!?!?!!? I have lived in NJ, Pa and now NH. In all 3 states, the limit anyone can receive rental assistance, housing assistance or section 8 is a max of 2 years!

We are a family of 6, making just enough to pay our utilities, rent and gas for our car, we get 350 a month in food stamps and do not qualify for any kind of housing assistance or even cash assistance. I would love to qualify for rental assistance even if all we qualified for was 100 bucks a month, it would help us out alot until my next pay raise which comes in 10 months but will finally get us off of food stamps for good!

A car you can lease, even pre-owned which is what a lot of poor people with the fancy cars seem to do. But it's pretty hard to ignore a million dollar home.

Not just the cars but the bling, grills, smart phones, $250 nike shoes, fancy finger nails, hair styles. It is amazing how much you can stretch those welfare checks. Plus a lot are obese, so the food must be plentiful too.

It goes pretty far....aside from the monthly check, you have food stamps to cover food, Day care and health care expenses can be paid, rent is susidized, in my state you can get free phone service, and get huge discounts on electricity....with everything covered that welfare check can go amazingly far. If you're a benefactor of one government program, nine times out of ten you are benfiting from alot of the others.

meant beneficiary not benefactor

I heard an investigation that a woman with 1 child who works a part time job just to get some level of assistance that continues but isn't over the level where it cuts off the benefits, pushes her $12k a year income to almost $50k a year with all the freebies from the govt. It goes up if she has kid #2.

Oh and those examples you mentioned above? I see it EVERY day in my city.

that is an ignorant reply lady!!!!!!!!! we are talking about a $$$$million $$$$ home!!!!!!!!!!

Nine times out of ten is a lot. Do you have data to back this up?

No data but I have ALOT of people that I can direct you to. Sometimes you don't need data to prove a point, if you have enough common sense and look around the proof is there....but why would I expect people to have common sense....silly me.

@ Tonglen I might add look at the case in point..

she applied for housing and cash assistance and food stamps.

she applied for housing and got it obviously, I willing to bet she got approved for the others as well.

Those people have a freakin' network. They not only spread the word about government programs but charities to hit as well. In my state, they get a cell phone and monthly minutes in addition to the land line service. I can't afford both, so I don't have both. My children grew up without TV reception, cellphones or name brand shoes. I raised them without any outside money. We usually lived $19 above the poverty line. Some years they qualified for reduced school lunches---some years, not. No free books until the state decided that no one paid. I paid for a home, vehicle, every other expense, clothed and fed them---they even had pets. Their deadbeat dad still owes me $20,000 and doesn't have a pot to pee in. I assist others in genuine need, but leeches like these are low on the ladder.

Starting with racist blogs. Time to tune out.

Connie, when you use statistics in your argument, you absolutely have to have data to back it up. I mean, how can you expect us to just take your expert testimony here when you can't even use "alot" correctly in a sentence?

Yeah we are dealing with some real brainiacs on this one.

If I were a marriage license where would I be....LOL

Gee, you'd like to think that if you didn't actually take time to think about it. But marriage licenses are recorded at the county clerk's office. Ever stop to think they might not have been married in the county they currently live in? It's even possible that they married in a county they never lived in. There is no national registry of marriage licenses, and as far as I know, not even state-level coordination on the registration of marriage licenses in many cases. So how many thousands of county clerk's offices should they search to establish whether there is a marriage certificate?

You can be common law style married and not have a license -not many places still do classic common law marriages but if she was functioning 'as his wife' and not renting from him (which even then is still bs to me) I can see the problem.

She might have a ring, but they might not have a license. Possibly they felt the fraud was worth the inconviences of not being married in the eyes of the law.

If they were married in WA the govt would already know and they wouldn't have qualified in the first place, one would think. They're probably checking other states and all the countries they traveled to.

They also could have gotten a "divorce" to be able to game the system.

Connie,

"If I were a marriage license where would I be....LOL"

Well, if you are talking about their personal copy, ours got lost after 5 moves in a little over 10 years. As far a the registered copy, depending on the state, it may be filed in the state vital statistics archives (like Obama's birth certificate) or in a county recorder's file, like I and my wife's. Most of the records are not databased and are filed by date, not by name. Good luck finding it.

I suggest checking birth records for the kids to verify father named. In my state the father's name has to be provided in order for that child to be eligible for benefits.

Welfare fraud is widespread and rampant.

http://www.washingtonstatewire.com/home/6609-welfare_fraud_is_rampant_dshs_employees_charge_%E2%80%93_while_agency_points_to_sterling_record.htm

They say welfare fraud is rampant and upper-level managers just don’t care. They say the agency downplays fraud to make its fraud-prevention record look better

Welfare fraud is widespread and rampant.

So that means the people who play by the rules are screwed too?

Fact of the matter,

No one commenting on here is advocating the complete removal of welfare. Those that really need the assistance... should get the assistance. Then you have dirtbags like these people that should never get assistance ever again in their lives no matter the circumstances.

hmmm medicare is "government run" and it works just fine... mom had a hip replacement and she's just fine right now. social security works reliably and people get their checks regularly. one example of fraud does not mean the whole program is broken.

I sure would not use SS as an example of a good program. Unless you are already past 50, you may not get a dime. And it certainly is not a good use of money.

Of all the money drained from me by by SS taxes, I could have had a much better annuity if I had put the money in a very safe, low-interest account.

Sorry mary but you cant fire a gubment employee. They have to be dethroned.

remember they're union!

impatient girl,

So we should go back to the old system of the political boss hiring friends and relatives to do nothing for two years at a time?

So we should go back to the old system of the political boss hiring friends and relatives to do nothing for two years at a time?

As opposed to hiring union member that do nothing?

It won't happen. Your time is better spent insulating yourselves from the worst effects of government. Live (honestly) below the radar, reduce your taxable income, economize, volunteer nothing to govt. Good luck though.

speak for yourself, I dont care what their nationality is, they're crooks.

J Dub..........Really... you think this is over a nationality?? I didn't read one posting that said... Figures.. look at the name.

What I read is EVERYONE on the same page as to HOW DARE those people, PEOPLE nothing to do with their color or country.

You are as ignorant as your name sake..........

I hate black people that game the system. I hate white people that game the system. I hate hispanics that game the system. I hate everybody... that games the system.

What I love (and love to hear about) is a a black/white/hispanic person that grows up on welfare and graduates from college and becomes a productive member of society. Someone that takes lemons and cures cancer with lemonade. Hard Work. That's what I love.

I never once thought about their "nationality", whatever it is. I sure hope they are US citizens or this story would be a whole lot worse.

Now as to YOU thinking this was somehow "racist" or based on nationality - I'm thinking you are one of the professional victim types? Maybe I'm wrong. But actually I'm "outraged".

Agree w/you 100%