Fraud as a feature, not a bug, in California

The Trump administration is opening investigations into fraud in California.

Not just voter fraud — and not just the high-profile cases that have already been prosecuted.

Rather, the federal inquiry, led by Vice President JD Vance, is going to look into fraud that has become a part of how California does business.

What does that mean?

The federal inquiry, led by Vice President JD Vance, is going to look into fraud that has become a part of California. Getty Images

It refers to the circle of self-enrichment through which political donors and special interests bag cash from government spending — then kick some of that cash back to politicians’ campaigns.

Often, tax dollars are spent on programs run by left-wing organizations with political agendas. They don’t solve problems; they just get Democrats elected to keep the cycle going and the money flowing.

That’s the only way to explain why the high-speed rail project persists in the Central Valley, even though almost nobody wants it and nobody is even pretending the state can afford it.

Fraud is also the only way to explain how California spends nearly half a billion dollars on an overhaul of the 911 emergency system, only to find that the project doesn’t work.

And when you double state spending in 10 years, without doubling — or even improving — the quality of public services, you know that a good chunk of that money is being wasted or being siphoned off somewhere.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

We’re not necessarily talking about criminal fraud — though there is plenty of that. We’re talking about systemic fraud. It’s a feature, not a bug.

More than a century ago, the infamous Plunkitt of Tammany Hall explained the difference between “honest” graft and the dishonest kind.

Dishonest graft, he said, was simple theft from the government. Only fools did that, and they were usually caught.

“Honest” graft, he said, was taking advantage of information or political clout to make investments alongside whatever the government was doing, and becoming rich that way.

That was the kind of corruption baked into the system in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. And it’s the kind of system that is the foundation of Sacramento.

It’s like vote-by-mail and ballot harvesting — recognized the world over as dangerously vulnerable to fraud, but legalized here in California.

The state legislature and the courts have refused to do much about it. So it falls to the feds. 

Let the investigations begin.