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SPEAKOUT: Securing homeland security funds

By Sen. Tom Wiens

Published January 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Recent government findings indicate that Colorado has squandered millions of dollars in taxpayer money devoted to enhancing our homeland security efforts here. Fortunately, a new bipartisan effort from the Colorado Senate provides the opportunity for the type of oversight we need to ensure the right direction for our future.

Four years have passed since then-Gov. Bill Owens announced his strategy for dispersing more than $156 million in federal funds between different state and local agencies. From the very beginning, I was an outspoken critic, acknowledging what should have been obvious: the strategy lacked sufficient checks and balances and had no vision for an end product to be produced for the people of Colorado with all of this money. Unfortunately, as millions of dollars were divided up among often unaccountable sources, my concerns fell on deaf ears as then-Senate President Joan FitzGerald dismantled the Senate Select Committee on Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

I am hopeful, however, that we can learn from the mistakes of the past, which in Colorado, often resulted from the fact that funding didn't follow clearly established priorities - rather, it dictated them.

With such a significant taxpayer investment, both the executive and legislative branches should have taken seriously our obligation to direct this money in the most effective manner possible. Instead, money flew out the door faster than you could say Osama bin Laden.

Being good stewards of money used to protect Colorado citizens is arguably the most important job a governor and a legislature can do. In an audit released earlier this month, the federal government concluded that the previous administration failed to provide adequate oversight of grant applications, failed to monitor contractors and government agencies, and equipment purchased to assist in emergency situations has sat collecting dust in boxes. According to our state auditor, both federal and state regulations were ignored in the process, which created an environment of mistrust of the executive branch by the legislature. Ultimately, there was little done right.

And now it may be taxpayers who will have to foot the bill as the federal government justifiably considers requiring the state to pay back nearly $8 million of the money it received. That's a big chuck of change at a time when families, including my own, remain concerned about our increasing tax burden at every level. This is even before we begin discussing our federal deficit, which now stands at more than $9 trillion.

This waste is especially unfortunate because the funds we received from Washington could have served not only our interests in preparing for, preventing, or reacting to terrorist attacks, but also other essential areas of our emergency preparedness strategy. Unfortunately, Colorado didn't really have a strategy.

As the federal government's recent audit revealed, Colorado has failed to take seriously its obligation to have a fully integrated and thought-out strategy for the end products of emergency preparedness. We have to have a strategy that produces the best possible emergency readiness for our citizens and includes a survivable, fully integrated, emergency command-and-control system that can survive terrorist and natural disasters, so that when others come to help us, they have something to plug into.

This week, Senate President Peter Groff announced the re-establishment of the Senate select committee on homeland security. I will serve on this panel. Our system can work only if we have sufficient oversight of these funds by knowledgeable legislators. I'm hopeful and determined that we are entering a new era of cooperation and accountability.

While politics is all too often personal - and partisan - both parties are to blame in their failure to oversee our homeland security funds. In moving forward, I hope to work closely with Gov. Bill Ritter, legislative leadership and the new, highly respected Homeland Security Director Gen. Mason Whitney and former State Auditor Joanne Hill to assure that we get our state back on the right track.

Every dollar sent from Washington to Colorado must be properly utilized. And while we don't know when we'll face another Hayman Fire, another shooting in a church, school or shopping center or, even worse, a massive terrorist attack, we can and must stand united and prepared to face such catastrophes. The future of the people of Colorado could depend upon on it.

Tom Wiens represents Colorado's 4th Senate District, which includes southern Douglas, northern El Paso, Teller, Park and Lake counties.

Comments

  • January 19, 2008

    5:07 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jgd writes:

    Unbelievable, imagine my surprise when I found out our government officials had little or no oversight on how our tax money is being used. Instead of constantly asking for more tax money from the people through higher taxes or additional "fees" maybe they should start doing what they were elected to do, work for the people. If anyone thinks this is an isolated incident they are sadly mistaken, this is common practice for the government. Remember this the next time they come crying to you for a tax increase "for the children".

    Not sure which side of the aisle Tom Wiens is from and don't care, but we need more like him in the State Senate.

  • January 19, 2008

    5:31 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    samsmargolis writes:

    Senator Wiens,

    How the State of Colorado receives and manages this homeland security function for the state made me curious; so, in looking at some available documents online, it appears to me that there are a couple of organizations or groups - not political parties or administrations - that should own a great deal of this blame for "squandering" homeland security funding and embarassing the state. The first would be the Colorado State Patrol (organization) and the next would be the Senior Advisory Committee (group). I'm not quite sure who or how the state patrol came to the forefront of anyone's mind when deciding which organization would lead this effort. That in itself is an amazing hurdle to overcome. Their function and history doesn't actually inspire confidence for me as a resident of the state that they could turn a traffic-oriented function into anything resembling a coherent homeland security operation. The Senior Advisory Committee seems to wield a great deal of influence at all levels of the grant decision-making process, but it's interesting that no one ever speaks of it. This appears to be where the rubber meets the road for accountability (or, apparently the lack thereof), state priorities and ensuring all this equipment is actually needed, used and tracked appropriately. Let me guess, the committee is packed with political appointees or selectees that 1) can't seem to be bothered attending meetings and, 2) when they do attend meetings, they are pushing for the pork that is homeland security to land on their plate. Good match for the state patrol. I like the tone of your commentary but, by pointing the finger at administrations instead of the behind-the-scenes operators and directors of this fiasco, you're missing the point. Why isn't anyone holding these groups or organizations accountable? That's the better question.