Morning Glory: The last temptation of a grant maker

Full disclosure of the top: I have been a grant maker for over 20 years. First as a member of the California Council of the Arts, then as a member of the Orange County, California Children and Family Committee.

The California Council of the Arts handled relatively small amounts of funds allocated by the state legislature. It was a mini national donation for the arts.

In contrast, Orange County's “Proposal 10” committee, as originally known, would dedicate tens of millions of dollars in tobacco tax revenue to the mission in some way, directed by the language of the voter-approved initiative. It was distributed annually to those who were granted. “I'm ready to learn kids 0-5 and their families healthy,” when I first started kindergarten.

Doge discovers over 4 million government credit cards responsible for 90m transactions

Proposal 10 was passed in 1998 by California voters. Actor Rob Reiner and former Republican MP Michael Huffington have posted 50 cents of tax on every pack of cigarettes. That resulted in a split of the funds raised by 20% to the state's proposal 10 committees and 80% to 58 county committees. 80% were split on a per capita basis, so of course Los Angeles was the most, but Orange County got a big chunk each year.

County Commissions had to have a majority of private sector members. I raised my hand to be one of the five private sector commissioners on a nine-member committee.

“Work” required two meetings a month with $100 without benefits or pensions. (I might be among the very few people who are eligible for the California Cair Political Practices Act, who have not acquired pensions and have lost money at all meetings.) I had a lot of homework but The small staff were made. On a good professional, it was an old school sorting public service.

At the very least, I think the Orange County Board did a good job of blocking public health stuff, helping out school nurse payments, new mothers with limited means and more. Strategic consulting that explores past work and future plans and suggests greater efficiency. The staff was small and wonderful. We hired contractors whenever possible. We tracked down Penny.

I was willing to stay on the committee as long as I could mathematics, but in 2016 I left California for Virginia and of course resigned. I'm watching it from afar. It's still doing a good job as it was built to resist the three major temptations of Grant Maker.

The first temptation is to never examine the effectiveness of a grant once it is made. If the results are not tracked and performance cannot be measured, it is a good bet that they are not worth reaching. Bainbridge provided the outside eye, but from day one, emphasis was placed on database results. If the program was “not working”, it's gone. The first temptation for grant makers is to never see what the outcome of previous spending is. It's fine if Doge is at least doing that.

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The second temptation is to give money to your friends. We didn't get close to that line because California law is very strict about self-contracting and the nine members didn't include shy people. More importantly, all grants were awarded at public meetings. Everything was explained in the material provided to the public. Grant Making should never be done in semi-light.

Doge should ask who decides to award the money and who is watching. Scandals at the EPA seem to be the opposite approach. If you haven't seen it, check out the Titanic Bars Off The Titanic video by administrator Lee Zeldin. Hurrying $20 billion through the door after the election is a recipe for airmails to friends.

I raised my hand to be one of the five private sector commissioners on a nine-member committee.

Finally, and most obviously, the final temptation of a grant maker is self-rich. Needless to say, grant makers should never give money to themselves, their families, or the organizations they expect to work. If Doge discovers that federal grants have been left for recipients where the grant makers were working, Doge will need to call Attorney General Pam Bondi. It's not “vain, fraud, abuse.” It's probably a crime.

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The Doge end result is hard to predict, but the bright light it shines with promises to shine in creating the grant, and other discretionary funds from federal agencies are very necessary. The scrutiny of recipients and the rules of eligibility that ensure that they are clearly understood, briefly explained to the applicant, and transparently made, have been long behind. There are no “small grants.” All grants to “a” are grants not made to “B”. And all the grants that seem outrageous are almost certainly so.

Dig deep doge people. A good subsidy maker can't fear or hide it.

Hugh Hewitt was the host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show” and listened to the weekday morning ET on Salem Radio Network and was broadcast simultaneously on Salem News Channel. Hugh awakens America with more than 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest at the Fox News Channel news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier at 6pm. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard and Michigan University Law School, Hewitt has been a law professor at the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University since 1996 and has taught the constitution. Hewitt launched a radio program of the same name in Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt frequently appears on all major news television networks, hosts PBS and MSNBC television shows, written in all American papers, written dozens of books, and eases Republican scores. did. Candidate debate, most recently Republican presidential debate in Miami in November 2023, and four Republican presidential debate in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio shows and his columns on the Constitution, National Security, American Politics, The Cleveland Browns and the Guardian. Hewitt interviewed tens of thousands of guests on the 40-year broadcast from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kelly from Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

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