Chick Ready to Bust Balls Over Stimulus Money Fraud

It probably wasn't very hard for former City Controller Laura Chick to leave her Los Angeles post early to join Schwarzenegger as his Inspector General overseeing how stimulus money was being spent in California. In Los Angeles, she was a bulldog over anything wasteful.

"My mission is very clear. It is to deter, detect and disclose any waste, fraud or abuse
of federal stimulus dollars coming into California. Today is the deterrence part," she said yesterday in San Francisco. "With those of us in the oversight family standing shoulder to shoulder as a team . Our message is simple: If you are thinking about messing with these precious dollars, know that we will find you and you will be brought to justice."

7 to 10% of stimulus money could be lost to fraud, officials noted yesterday. After Hurricane Katrina, 17% of money used was found to be fraud. Chick hypothetically envisioned politicians awarding stimulus money to family members because their business needs the money. If that happens, it won't be happy days for tricksters as long as Chick is in office.