The Real Payoff for Job Training Programs (Iowa Edition)
If an unfolding scandal in Iowa is any indication, job-training programs may or may not help low-income folks, low-skill workers, or people trying to shift from one vocation to another. But they definitely help the people who run such programs:
Central Iowa Economic Training Consortium, which contracts with IWD to offer job training in central Iowa, paid $1.8 million in federal money to three executives from July 2003 to December 2005.
According to state records, the company's Chief Executive Officer Ramona Cunningham was paid $795,384 in the last 30 months, making her one of the highest paid public officials in Iowa. Chief Operating Officer John Bargman collected $767,575.
Special Bonus, as reported by the Des Moines Register: "Top officials" in the Hawkeye State blocked a federal probe into over-compensation (the Iowans were spending mostly federal moolah). More here.
Double Special Bonus: Called to account, CEO Cunningham tells legislators that the blame rests with federal and state auditors: "I hate to say this but if there was an issue, they didn't do a very good job," she said, thus bringing chutzpah to the Cheartland.
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Another compelling argument for something; I just can’t think what…
The guillotine, perhaps.
Which reminds me- why isn’t everybody who “served” on the New Orleans Levee Board (or whatever they call it) in jail right now?
There are school superintendents who run districts with less than 500 students and have a budget of less than a million dollars who make well into six figures. The list goes on and on. There is a reason why neither party will stop spending money. It is not because the American people want the spending. It is because they want their fat cat contributors to continue to get rich off of the government.
The Central Iowa Economic Training Consortium was doing a fantastic job at getting low skilled undereducated Iowans meaningful employment. They got Ramona Cunningham, a woman with a GED a job that pays $360,000 annually with 3 months of vacation. Swell.