Waste and fraud robs taxpayers, state's most needy

Apply to be a legal guardian for a disabled person in Nebraska, and you'll have to sit through a long training session with one message: It's not your money, it's theirs.

A Scottsbluff woman is in jail because she apparently didn't get the message.

Judith Widener operated a Gering business called "Safe Haven," which acted as guardian for more than 600 Nebraskans, including four in Red Willow County and many others in Southwest Nebraska.

State Auditor Mike Foley, who has announced a bid for governor, said his auditors found she had more than 40 bank accounts holding more than $600,000, and numerous examples where she took private and public benefits for her wards and used them herself, including more than $35,000 stolen outright and buying herself $500 Christmas and birthday gifts.

About 100 of Widener's "clients" were in a Health and Human Services program called Assistance to the Aged, Blind or Disabled, paying for food, shelter and basic living expenses.

Foley's auditors found that in 36 percent of cases, HHS was making payments that were unreasonable or violated state law or regulations, including:

* $645 in living expenses to a convicted felon while he was in the state penitentiary.

* Payments made even though recipients had assets such as homes and vehicles which weren't disclosed. One owned a rental property and vehicles and received more than $100,000 in undeserved payments.

* An HHS worker lowered the value of assets to make an applicant eligible for more than $122,000 in assistance.

* Auditors found 10 cases where payments were made to people after they died.

The U.S. Social Security Administration and U.S. Veterans' Administration had strongly warned HHS not to do business with Widener, and a Lancaster County judge had also forbid her from being named guardian for any more people.

The AABD and other assistance programs are a vital lifeline for those who truly need them. The tragedy is that lax oversight robs both the taxpayers who fund them, and deserving individuals for which assistance might not be available.

It's not surprising that unscrupulous individuals have no problem picking the pockets of those who desperately need the public assistance and taxpayers forced to pay for them.

It's unfortunate that political ambition has to serve as the much-needed incentive to uncover the waste and fraud that robs the most needy among us.