While Senator Day and Doctor Davis are mouthing empty NRCC pieties about earmarks, Congressman Walz has been open and transparent about his budget requests. He's also been keen on government accountability.
Today's editorial in the Winona Daily News, Despite ranking, DOJ grant-giving full of politics, praises Walz for his actions to prompting the investigation of the project of giving grants at the DOJ:
A federal grant application by Winona State University to the DOJ appears to have been DOA.
The National Child Protection and Training Center, the remarkable WSU-affiliated program that’s on a mission to protect children from exploitation and danger, found itself thrust into the national spotlight after it was revealed that a U.S. Department of Justice administrator had passed up the center when divvying up grant money, along with many other deserving programs, in favor of programs that he had personal connections to. . . .
. . .But, adding insult to injury was the fact that the DOJ went through the hassle of reviewing and even ranking the grants based on the criteria the agency itself devised and developed.
Even worse, the National Child Protection and Training Center got the fourth-highest score. That’s the fourth-highest score in the nation. Yet, the justice department overlooked it. Winona State shouldn’t feel so bad, though. The top five programs were also passed over.
That’s when Minnesota 1st District Congressman Tim Walz stepped in, and an investigation was launched.
We applaud Walz for sticking up for the center, asking questions and pursuing this issue.
It’s not just watching out for a center that happens to be in his district; it’s about government accountability. . . .
. . .This wasn’t just some special-interest bacon in an already overcrowded federal barrel of pork. This money goes to help prepare adults to protect children.
After the center's grant was turned down by the DOJ, Walz and Minnesota's senators requested and secured earmarks for the highly effective program.
The newspaper board wants Walz and others in Congress to push for less patronage and more accountability in the administration's grant-making process:
We thank Walz and other representatives, such as R. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., for the scrutiny, but we suggest that they didn’t go far enough. Not only is it a shame and a sham that WSU and other DOJ-approved grants got passed over, it seems to represent a waste of DOJ employees’ time. It’s time for more answers — if the process is rigged in the name of politics, then so be it. But it’s even worse than that, it’s wasteful, disingenuous and takes away time that could be spent helping protect children.
Assuring the federal grant process is fair, efficient, and sticking to standards is a good idea. Please contribute to Congressman Walz's campaign by June 30 to make sure he can follow through on the next step of watchdogging the administration's own budgeting. And sign up to volunteer--here's a great opportunity to be in an Independence Day parade with the Congressman.
Photo: Victor Vieth of the National Child Protection and Training Center. Photo taken from Lost case led to improved prosecution, a compelling Mankato Free Press article which tells the story of how Vieth and others came to develop the tools to fight child sexual abuse.
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