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California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

609 points by js2 6y ago

boomboomsubban 6y ago
Call me cynical, but Stebbins likely faces a decade long legal battle which shell very likely end up settling to be done with it, the board members will get even better jobs in or out of government, and the $200 million will remain missing. Yknow, justice.
- js2 6y ago
  She uncovers incompetence and gets fired. The article makes no allegations that she stepped on Newsom's toes, but it sure seems like it. She deserves a medal, not to be fired. The article doesn't say who hired her in the first place, just: > Stebbins was hired as the agency’s executive director in February 2018 to bring fresh scrutiny to its finances and operations. Who hired her? Also: > “I find this outrageous!” Batjer wrote to her old colleague. “I’m terribly worried. Thanks much for any advice/help you can get before this gets much worse.” > “Let’s get together and figure this out!” Lee responded. “We will help you fix, don’t stress.” I can count on zero fingers the number of times I've used an exclamation mark professionally. Batjer then proceeds to essentially conspire with other board members to fire her, breaking the law in so doing.
  - jasonboyd 6y ago
    > "I can count on zero fingers the number of times I've used an exclamation mark professionally." I feel self conscious now.
    - MacsHeadroom 6y ago
      In use exclamation marks in professional communication every day. It's not unusual at all.
      - FPGAhacker 6y ago
        In particular: thanks!
        TeMPOraL 6y ago
        That's about the only use case of exclamation mark I have in professional, corporate communications. Unless we take "professional" to mean "stuff people do to make money" - at which point, well, let's say that the stuff I read when working at small companies was often below what I'd consider baseline in a civilized society. And the spelling! One of the nicer things about working for bigger companies is that people feel they need to put some minimum effort into communicating, and don't just dump their stream of thoughts as fast as they can type.
        TecoAndJix 6y ago
        I use ! a lot when asking someone to do something for me: Good Morning! or Let me know if you have any questions!
        js2 6y ago
        Okay, I've probably included an exclamation mark after a "thanks", but that's a very different usage than "I find this outrageous!" which is more like "I'm shocked, shocked to find out that gambling is going on in here!"
      - sgc 6y ago
        It's basically required in real estate. Everybody needs to sound nice and cheery!
        Filligree 6y ago
        And everyone, literally everyone, must own fish-eye cameras.
      - wayoutthere 6y ago
        I think gendering language is dumb, but women do tend to use more expressive language like exclamation points to “soften” our communication. Not that men never do, but I do think there are different standards of “professionalism” depending on how you are perceived to fit into the social order.
    - dEnigma 6y ago
      Don't worry! I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of exclamation marks I see on a typical work day. It's perfectly alright, at least here in Austria.
    - TomSwirly 6y ago
      Don't! An email or text without a single exclamation mark in it is seen as distant and impersonal in 2020.
  - TwoBit 6y ago
    Sounds like you are judging that exclamation points are unprofessional.
  - brighton36 6y ago
    Professionalism is nihlism. It's mostly the same thing. Hence why it's improper to exclaim.
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    > I can count on zero fingers the number of times I've used an exclamation mark professionally. What does your preferred language use for the logical negation operator?
    - GreenWatermelon 6y ago
      Python uses `not`, `and`, and `or`
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
  - TomSwirly 6y ago
    > I can count on zero fingers the number of times I've used an exclamation mark professionally. You probably come off as a bit stiff then. Of course, in formal documents, you never use it, but in person-to-person communication in 2020, you use it about once in any email or text as a softener. "Good to see you the other day! [...] Let's do this." Or the exclamation mark comes at the end, which might be a bit too much for me. This has been the habit for a couple of decades now...
  - harrisonjackson 6y ago
    I agree this use of ”!” is unprofessional. This is like yelling at someone in person where as the sibling examples are being extra cheerful and thankful.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - specialist 6y ago
    Is there a whistleblower's playbook? Case studies and legal stuff. Imagine some day I decide to expose something. What steps should I take? How should I proceed? What's the calculus for deciding? I imagine it'd resemble spy craft. Also, I'd like some philanthropic group to become a resource for whistleblowers. Pretty much like outreach programs for victims of domestic violence. Anonymous, no strings, coaching. Plus a mountain of cash for legal stuff. I imagine your case worker would help you assess the merits of your case. They'd plug in some numbers and predict the enormity of the undying hell you're about to unleash. I looked a bit after the Sibel Edwards event. The whistleblower NGOs I found seemed little more than a support group with other survivors. I keep thinking of that group of lawyers that's made huge money suing pharmaceutical (or maybe it was pharmacists) under the whistleblower statutes. Surely more such groups could pop up, each with their own expertise.
    - comte 6y ago
      Tom Devine, Legal Director at Government Accountability Project has several resources. https://whistleblower.org/gap-resources-publications/ https://whistleblower.org/gap-resources-publications/ One of his books might be helpful for a future whistlebower: The Corporate Whistleblower’s Survival Guide: A Handbook for Committing the Truth. (2011) with Tarek Maassarani. I have no association with GAP. They can be contacted at info@whistleblower.org. Heard an interview of Devine via podcast On The Media episode "Nice Democracy You've Got There..." Sept 19, 2019. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-2019-09-27 https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-med...
- hliyan 6y ago
  What you say will probably come to pass, but this sort of cynical, fatalistic attitude is part of the problem.
  - CyberDildonics 6y ago
    It is not part of the problem, it is a symptom of it.
    - ashtonkem 6y ago
      With a positive feedback loop, trying to determine which thing came first is a waste of everyone’s time.
      - CyberDildonics 6y ago
        How would becoming jaded to corruption come before corruption?
        ashtonkem 6y ago
        Someone lying about corruption or the capability of the government to do any good, obviously. But see my prior comment.
        CyberDildonics 6y ago
        I saw your prior comment when I responded to it the first time. Repeating yourself more forcefully doesn't explain your thought process. You think journalists have been lying about corruption and minimized consequences for so long that people are unsurprised by corruption AND that in turn caused corruption? Also who is talking about "the capability of the government to do any good"?
        ashtonkem 6y ago
        I mean, I genuinely don't care which came first. That's why I posted it. I'm not terribly interested in arguing about first causes when I've made it very clear that in my opinion first causes don't matter in this case.
Simulacra 6y ago
The title needs some work. It sounds like the person who was fired for exposing $200M, has herself gone missing. Perhaps it could say. Edit: Thank you for changing it from the original "California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed $200M missing" to ""California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M" Not sure why that earns me downvotes.
- js2 6y ago
  Edited slightly.
- underseacables 6y ago
  I think there is a rule about nitpicking titles. The original was confusing so they changed it.
- dxdm 6y ago
  Thank you for mentioning the original title.
hh3k0 6y ago
> In response to detailed questions, commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said that Stebbins’ allegation of $200 million in missing fines and fees was the result of a misunderstanding of the commission’s accounting practices. A misunderstanding of accounting practices?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  Like in many accounting controversies, the fundamental problem here is how to account for future expectations. If you’re owed a big sum of money but you know for sure payment is coming soon, your accounting statements should show you as much wealthier than the actual money you have on hand, because receiving a payment you already knew you’d get shouldn’t change how you measure your financial status. The commission says that’s all that’s happening here and the “missing” money will come in over the next year, while Stebbins says they have no reason to expect this and aren’t actually keeping track.
  - chii 6y ago
    > you know for sure payment is coming soon and there-in lies the catch - you cannot know for sure something that hasn't happened yet. There can not be accounting practises that count money that has yet to be received on hand.
    - esc_colon_q 6y ago
      There can be and often are, because it's important to account for future expected flows - credit that's been extended and is due to be repaid, for instance, has to be accounted for. The thing is, these flows should be clearly and cleanly separated from actual cash on hand.
    - refurb 6y ago
      There actually is. Accounting is complicated because it has a multitude of rules around all this stuff. The goal is transparency. Yes, if someone owes you money it’s an asset on your books. But there are a ton of rules around proof that you expect to be paid, when it must be paid by, when you need to write off all of it or some of it.
xxxnnn123 6y ago
Oracle, Tesla and many other companies already left the state. Good luck raising taxes even further, Cali! Texans will be very thankful to you for all the companies that now paying taxes and creating new jobs in Texas .
- rangoon626 6y ago
  Wrecked a beautiful state
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  Honestly, the “leave California for Texas!!” comments have started to become obnoxious in their repetition. And I say that as someone who moved from California to another state very recently.
- GoOnThenDoTell 6y ago
  I don’t think anyone is actually worried about companies leaving California, there are plenty more
dmix 6y ago
Nice to see the US slowly learn to grift on a whole new scale. [1] Even AOC (who ironically also pushes for ton s of these grifting opportunities via her party). > This is why Congress needs time to actually read this package before voting on it. > Members of Congress have not read this bill. It’s over 5000 pages, arrived at 2pm today, and we are told to expect a vote on it in 2 hours. > This isn’t governance. It’s hostage-taking. --- [1] https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1341145260014100480 https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1341145260014100480 6000 page bills rubber-stamped by congress. No wonder congress constantly ranks way below presidencies and other agencies in polls (like only 20% think congress does a good job, way lower than the useless president of past). But look no further from there (super bureaucratic) India if really want even more gifting the US (F35 is the classic exa). And getting some anti-grifters to expose it (they starting get serious about corruption late 2000a). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yadav_Singh_corruption_cas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yadav_Singh_corruption_cas This one is a good example where his job was a random "Land clearing" engineer took tribes for illegal real estate developments and had tens of millionaires in USD in their coil. They find top good end jobs (sometimes unqualified) and rake it in. There's probably worth starting an FBI groups to see congress and senators that have property well beyond their salary. Plenty of examples from india: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33984185 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33984185 https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/10/527803742/episode-770-when-indias-cash-disappeared-part-one https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/10/527803742/epis... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_in_India?oldformat=true#2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_in_India?oldf... https://www.wikiwand.com/en/D._K._Shivakumar#/Controversies_and_Corruption_ChaIrges https://www.wikiwand.com/en/D._K._Shivakumar#/Controversies_... We need similar anti-corruption bills (or at least rankings) task forces to investigate congress and the multi thousand page documented.
- js2 6y ago
  My reading of the article is Hanlon's razor (“don’t attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”), not corruption/grift.
- tomcam 6y ago
  That’s an offensive comparison. I believe it is clear that the US is by far the world leader in bureaucratic grifting.
rangoon626 6y ago
Between this and the "pork" that was recently scrutinized, I am completely disgusted that local, state and federal government thinks that they have a blank check care of tax payers. Of course it's been this way forever, but this is getting out of hand. 200m missing, and the state is having massive forest fires, electrical outages and way too many people living in tent cities. What an absolutely disgusting waste.
- gedy 6y ago
  It's the 5th largest economy in the world, ahead of even India, and with 2% of the population to take care of. Must be all Prop 13's fault, no waste here behind the curtain. /s
  - novok 6y ago
    Prop 13 incentivizes cities to reject new housing because it is net revenue negative compared to commercial properties. That and it disincentivizes old people to politically advocate for affordable housing, because they don't have skin in the game / are free riders and thus do not feel the pain like everyone else. They end up ferociously protecting their boomer bank account (house value) because they cannot see beyond their own personal situation.
    - gedy 6y ago
      My comment was about lost revenue and how Prop 13 is blamed for all money ills, not the points you are addressing.
Justin_K 6y ago
The sad part is that CA remains a one party state and this will just get swept under the rug. The power is too unchecked.
- legulere 6y ago
  As a European I ask myself why there’s no proportional voting system at all in the US. The states should be independent enough to introduce one for themselves, and there are also referendums.
  - AnthonyMouse 6y ago
    A switch to proportional voting could require constitutional changes in most places. Also, proportional voting introduces all kinds of unnecessary problems like not having districts and thereby constituents having their votes diluted and not having a specific representative. Which is one things the American system gets right. What we really need is a switch from "first past the post" to approval/score/range voting, which would dissolve the two party system by eliminating spoilers and thereby making third parties viable. Score/range voting is "that thing the Olympics uses"; approval voting is "that thing the Olympics uses if the only possible scores a judge can give are 0 or 1". As far as I can tell the biggest impediment to this is a lot of people proposing alternative systems that aren't as good (e.g. IRV) and then no change is made because proponents of change are divided on which change to make.
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      > A switch to proportional voting could require constitutional changes in most places. Less places than you might think. It especially wouldn't for Congress (so long as it was proportional by a method similar to STV within state delegations, or within some subset of state delegations), as the only barrier there is a statutory prohibition on at-large districts for delegations greater than 1, adopted to head off the use of FPTP at-large districts to systematically deny representation not minorities. > Also, proportional voting introduces all kinds of unnecessary problems like not having districts Party list proportional would do that, but most other proportional systems would not. > and thereby constituents having their votes diluted Proportionality doesn't dilute votes; the more proportional a system is the more efficiently it allocated votes to give them maximum effect. > and not having a specific representative Proportional systems don't need to have that effect, either, no matter how you measure it (and FPTP—and any other simple singlr-member district system—definitely has that effect for supporters of the nonwinning party in a district, who are effectively unrepresented entirely.)
onetimemanytime 6y ago
Well, she wasn't hired to cause problems and rocks people's boats. Now these hard working fellas even got bad press May sound sarcastic but...
drtillberg 6y ago
It's never the original problem, it's always the cover-up. Seems like an interesting project for an ambitious Assistant U.S. Attorney.
known 6y ago
TRUTH is always suppressed in the name of trust/loyalty/compliance/privacy/conspiracy/discipline/patriotism/sedition/job/national security/unity/intellectual property
perryizgr8 6y ago
The real graft was stealing that money from citizens in the first place.
0x445442 6y ago
Slightly off topic but indirectly relevant... Any acceptance of a Government backed crypto currency should be contingent on moving all Government transactions to an open blockchain ledger.
IG_Semmelweiss 6y ago
the sad truth in this story is that the former top boss hired Stebbins and did the right thing.... then former top boss gets fired due to the the CA wildfires fiasco.... which very likely accrued for a long time, well before the former top boss' got the job. So now the hero, has no protection from the top, and new bureaucrat goes in for the kill. Now the person that hired the hero, and the hero herself.... are out, for trying to make things better. The good guys get grinded out of the system , by the system itself
Kapura 6y ago
It feels like I live in a country where every level of government is unbelievably corrupt, but also completely unfixable. How are you supposed to address the sorts of issues that lose $200,000,000 of state money if the people who try to do so get fired? I don't see a way out of this mess, and it makes me want to move somewhere... better.
- tekproxy 6y ago
  Systems tend to break down over time. This is normal. People getting fed up and trying to fix it is normal too. "Hard times create strong people. Strong people create good times. Good times create weak people. Weak people create hard times." We only get the leaders and government we deserve.
- swiley 6y ago
  The problem with California is that they tend to keep putting all their eggs in the same broken basket.
  - aliljet 6y ago
    I'm curious what that broken basket is?
    - zbrozek 6y ago
      I'm not sure what GP had in mind either. But if I were trying to build on that statement, I'd say that a single party political landscape hasn't been good. Having at least three or four healthy competitive parties and a need to build coalitions seems like it would be really helpful. But that isn't the American way.
      - wizzwizz4 6y ago
        Fixing the voting system wouldn't solve the American Populism problem (where promising to “pull the ladder up” is a guaranteed win among most people who've already climbed it, and even some who haven't), but it would render that possible.
ykevinator 6y ago
"missing" is so misleading, "uncollected" would be so much more honest
dukeofdoom 6y ago
Reminds me of this story I read yesterday. You can't question the system. Or the system questions you. So illiberal. "Michigan’s Democratic attorney general vowed Tuesday to pursue legal punishments against attorneys who have challenged the state’s election results" https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/22/dana-nessel-michigan-attorney-general-threatens-si/ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/22/dana-nessel...
- hallman76 6y ago
  FTA > “We’ll go to the Attorney Grievance Commission on some cases, where we know for a fact that there were intentional misrepresentations that were made, the kind where there is no question of the facts,” she said, according to The New York Times. > “If you have your name attached to it and you’ve made intentional misrepresentations, I absolutely think you ought to be held accountable,” she said. This seems pretty reasonable to me.
  - dukeofdoom 6y ago
    Election was the "most secure in American history", its a fact. Here is the official document proving it. https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-election https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-electio... So according to you, any lawyer that questions this irrefutable, official documented fact, should be sanctioned for misrepresenting facts. Lawyers should be punished, fined or disbarred or even imprisoned for making arguments. Perfectly reasonable position.
annoyingnoob 6y ago
Someone needs to explain both sets of accounting practices to the public. Its public money we are talking about. Californians pay tons of little taxes on utilities to fund improvements and service for the less privileged - we expect that money to be put to use and not to line the pockets of utilities. Its quite obviously that our utilities have completely failed when it comes to maintenance and improvements. What are the folks managing these finds doing other than fighting? Time to explain yourselves.
- everybodyknows 6y ago
  > money to be put to use and not to line the pockets ... How about this example: https://electricenergyonline.com/article/energy/category/ot-it/53/873693/cpuc-invests-more-than-20-million-in-broadband-infrastructure-and-access-for-unserved-california-households.html https://electricenergyonline.com/article/energy/category/ot-... > $11 million in grant funding ... 740 unserved households First project on the list: https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M355/K247/355247969.PDF https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M355/K... > up to $7,603,656.30 ... 1,000 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 1,000Mbps upload to 588 unserved households. So, gigabit Ethernet, at a cost of only $12,931 per household. >According to the California Interactive Broadband Map, the area only has access to dial-up service. According to my search of that very same site just now, three competing cellular providers serve data to Williams, with T-Mobile claiming minimums of 9/4 Mbps. https://www.broadbandmap.ca.gov/ https://www.broadbandmap.ca.gov/ > residential and low-income broadband pricing plans ... for two years starting from the beginning date of service. ... 25 Downstream(Mbps)/25 Upstream(Mbps) - $25/month Wondering how many of those 588 households are behind on their monthly bills just now? How many would, if given the choice, prefer to have the CPUC pre-pay for them a couple of years of cellular hotspot service, and simply refund the remainder of "their" $12,931 in cash, so they can all be assured of making their rent or mortgage payments for a while? About 588 households, I would guess. My theory: It's a subsidy program for the broadband landline industry. Regulatory capture, as usual.
zug_zug 6y ago
I think there's whistleblower statute that protects such employees and even offers huge financial rewards to people who report financial frauds. I imagine she's eligible. [1] https://www.helmerfriedman.com/whistleblower-programs-reward/ https://www.helmerfriedman.com/whistleblower-programs-reward...
WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
I like how much coordination went into framing the director vs how much didn't go into auditing.
spanktheuser 6y ago
I'm struck that the commission directors proceeded despite the ample evidence they knew would surface should the corrupt firing be contested. It seems that don't fear personal consequences for their actions. Disposing of limited liability or significantly weakening it seems necessary.
jayd16 6y ago
Can someone clear up the timeline for me? Text messages show Batjer was gunning for Stebbins for over a year but the news report seems to be pushing the juicy headline that its in response to this recent report? Does that really add up?
jjd33 6y ago
That picture of her wearing the jewellery says all. The US is as corrupt as China Russia and Iran are they just are corrupt in a different way.
mleonhard 6y ago
San Francisco's accounting is similarly incomprehensible. I tried to download the city's annual report and failed. There is none. Or rather, there are several, and all are incomplete. I believe there are several large scandals brewing in SF government and many government officials are committing crimes against the citizens. I hope ProPublica or another journalism organization will take on the project to uncover them. I just donated to ProPublica. I hope you will, too.
alok-g 6y ago
There have been orders-of-magnitude bigger issues ($31.65 Billion per the following article): https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/05/29/31-65-billion-california-accounting-errors-higher-than-combined-gdp-of-jamaica-iceland/ https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/05/29/31-65-billion-cal... Not those who expose, but those who cause, should be the ones fired.
- everybodyknows 6y ago
  >2014

609 points by js2 6y ago

Call me cynical, but Stebbins likely faces a decade long legal battle which shell very likely end up settling to be done with it, the board members will get even better jobs in or out of government, and the $200 million will remain missing. Yknow, justice.

js2 6y ago
She uncovers incompetence and gets fired. The article makes no allegations that she stepped on Newsom's toes, but it sure seems like it. She deserves a medal, not to be fired. The article doesn't say who hired her in the first place, just: > Stebbins was hired as the agency’s executive director in February 2018 to bring fresh scrutiny to its finances and operations. Who hired her? Also: > “I find this outrageous!” Batjer wrote to her old colleague. “I’m terribly worried. Thanks much for any advice/help you can get before this gets much worse.” > “Let’s get together and figure this out!” Lee responded. “We will help you fix, don’t stress.” I can count on zero fingers the number of times I've used an exclamation mark professionally. Batjer then proceeds to essentially conspire with other board members to fire her, breaking the law in so doing.
- jasonboyd 6y ago
  > "I can count on zero fingers the number of times I've used an exclamation mark professionally." I feel self conscious now.
  - MacsHeadroom 6y ago
    In use exclamation marks in professional communication every day. It's not unusual at all.
    - FPGAhacker 6y ago
      In particular: thanks!
      - TeMPOraL 6y ago
        That's about the only use case of exclamation mark I have in professional, corporate communications. Unless we take "professional" to mean "stuff people do to make money" - at which point, well, let's say that the stuff I read when working at small companies was often below what I'd consider baseline in a civilized society. And the spelling! One of the nicer things about working for bigger companies is that people feel they need to put some minimum effort into communicating, and don't just dump their stream of thoughts as fast as they can type.
      - TecoAndJix 6y ago
        I use ! a lot when asking someone to do something for me: Good Morning! or Let me know if you have any questions!
      - js2 6y ago
        Okay, I've probably included an exclamation mark after a "thanks", but that's a very different usage than "I find this outrageous!" which is more like "I'm shocked, shocked to find out that gambling is going on in here!"
    - sgc 6y ago
      It's basically required in real estate. Everybody needs to sound nice and cheery!
      - Filligree 6y ago
        And everyone, literally everyone, must own fish-eye cameras.
    - wayoutthere 6y ago
      I think gendering language is dumb, but women do tend to use more expressive language like exclamation points to “soften” our communication. Not that men never do, but I do think there are different standards of “professionalism” depending on how you are perceived to fit into the social order.
  - dEnigma 6y ago
    Don't worry! I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of exclamation marks I see on a typical work day. It's perfectly alright, at least here in Austria.
  - TomSwirly 6y ago
    Don't! An email or text without a single exclamation mark in it is seen as distant and impersonal in 2020.
- TwoBit 6y ago
  Sounds like you are judging that exclamation points are unprofessional.
- brighton36 6y ago
  Professionalism is nihlism. It's mostly the same thing. Hence why it's improper to exclaim.
- sokoloff 6y ago
  > I can count on zero fingers the number of times I've used an exclamation mark professionally. What does your preferred language use for the logical negation operator?
  - GreenWatermelon 6y ago
    Python uses `not`, `and`, and `or`
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- TomSwirly 6y ago
  > I can count on zero fingers the number of times I've used an exclamation mark professionally. You probably come off as a bit stiff then. Of course, in formal documents, you never use it, but in person-to-person communication in 2020, you use it about once in any email or text as a softener. "Good to see you the other day! [...] Let's do this." Or the exclamation mark comes at the end, which might be a bit too much for me. This has been the habit for a couple of decades now...
- harrisonjackson 6y ago
  I agree this use of ”!” is unprofessional. This is like yelling at someone in person where as the sibling examples are being extra cheerful and thankful.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- specialist 6y ago
  Is there a whistleblower's playbook? Case studies and legal stuff. Imagine some day I decide to expose something. What steps should I take? How should I proceed? What's the calculus for deciding? I imagine it'd resemble spy craft. Also, I'd like some philanthropic group to become a resource for whistleblowers. Pretty much like outreach programs for victims of domestic violence. Anonymous, no strings, coaching. Plus a mountain of cash for legal stuff. I imagine your case worker would help you assess the merits of your case. They'd plug in some numbers and predict the enormity of the undying hell you're about to unleash. I looked a bit after the Sibel Edwards event. The whistleblower NGOs I found seemed little more than a support group with other survivors. I keep thinking of that group of lawyers that's made huge money suing pharmaceutical (or maybe it was pharmacists) under the whistleblower statutes. Surely more such groups could pop up, each with their own expertise.
  - comte 6y ago
    Tom Devine, Legal Director at Government Accountability Project has several resources. https://whistleblower.org/gap-resources-publications/ https://whistleblower.org/gap-resources-publications/ One of his books might be helpful for a future whistlebower: The Corporate Whistleblower’s Survival Guide: A Handbook for Committing the Truth. (2011) with Tarek Maassarani. I have no association with GAP. They can be contacted at info@whistleblower.org. Heard an interview of Devine via podcast On The Media episode "Nice Democracy You've Got There..." Sept 19, 2019. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-2019-09-27 https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-med...
hliyan 6y ago
What you say will probably come to pass, but this sort of cynical, fatalistic attitude is part of the problem.
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  It is not part of the problem, it is a symptom of it.
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    With a positive feedback loop, trying to determine which thing came first is a waste of everyone’s time.
    - CyberDildonics 6y ago
      How would becoming jaded to corruption come before corruption?
      - ashtonkem 6y ago
        Someone lying about corruption or the capability of the government to do any good, obviously. But see my prior comment.
        CyberDildonics 6y ago
        I saw your prior comment when I responded to it the first time. Repeating yourself more forcefully doesn't explain your thought process. You think journalists have been lying about corruption and minimized consequences for so long that people are unsurprised by corruption AND that in turn caused corruption? Also who is talking about "the capability of the government to do any good"?
        ashtonkem 6y ago
        I mean, I genuinely don't care which came first. That's why I posted it. I'm not terribly interested in arguing about first causes when I've made it very clear that in my opinion first causes don't matter in this case.

Simulacra 6y ago

The title needs some work. It sounds like the person who was fired for exposing $200M, has herself gone missing. Perhaps it could say. Edit: Thank you for changing it from the original "California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed $200M missing" to ""California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M" Not sure why that earns me downvotes.

js2 6y ago
Edited slightly.
underseacables 6y ago
I think there is a rule about nitpicking titles. The original was confusing so they changed it.
dxdm 6y ago
Thank you for mentioning the original title.

hh3k0 6y ago

> In response to detailed questions, commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said that Stebbins’ allegation of $200 million in missing fines and fees was the result of a misunderstanding of the commission’s accounting practices. A misunderstanding of accounting practices?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
Like in many accounting controversies, the fundamental problem here is how to account for future expectations. If you’re owed a big sum of money but you know for sure payment is coming soon, your accounting statements should show you as much wealthier than the actual money you have on hand, because receiving a payment you already knew you’d get shouldn’t change how you measure your financial status. The commission says that’s all that’s happening here and the “missing” money will come in over the next year, while Stebbins says they have no reason to expect this and aren’t actually keeping track.
- chii 6y ago
  > you know for sure payment is coming soon and there-in lies the catch - you cannot know for sure something that hasn't happened yet. There can not be accounting practises that count money that has yet to be received on hand.
  - esc_colon_q 6y ago
    There can be and often are, because it's important to account for future expected flows - credit that's been extended and is due to be repaid, for instance, has to be accounted for. The thing is, these flows should be clearly and cleanly separated from actual cash on hand.
  - refurb 6y ago
    There actually is. Accounting is complicated because it has a multitude of rules around all this stuff. The goal is transparency. Yes, if someone owes you money it’s an asset on your books. But there are a ton of rules around proof that you expect to be paid, when it must be paid by, when you need to write off all of it or some of it.

xxxnnn123 6y ago

Oracle, Tesla and many other companies already left the state. Good luck raising taxes even further, Cali! Texans will be very thankful to you for all the companies that now paying taxes and creating new jobs in Texas .

rangoon626 6y ago
Wrecked a beautiful state
ashtonkem 6y ago
Honestly, the “leave California for Texas!!” comments have started to become obnoxious in their repetition. And I say that as someone who moved from California to another state very recently.
GoOnThenDoTell 6y ago
I don’t think anyone is actually worried about companies leaving California, there are plenty more

dmix 6y ago

Nice to see the US slowly learn to grift on a whole new scale. [1] Even AOC (who ironically also pushes for ton s of these grifting opportunities via her party). > This is why Congress needs time to actually read this package before voting on it. > Members of Congress have not read this bill. It’s over 5000 pages, arrived at 2pm today, and we are told to expect a vote on it in 2 hours. > This isn’t governance. It’s hostage-taking. --- [1] https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1341145260014100480 https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1341145260014100480 6000 page bills rubber-stamped by congress. No wonder congress constantly ranks way below presidencies and other agencies in polls (like only 20% think congress does a good job, way lower than the useless president of past). But look no further from there (super bureaucratic) India if really want even more gifting the US (F35 is the classic exa). And getting some anti-grifters to expose it (they starting get serious about corruption late 2000a). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yadav_Singh_corruption_cas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yadav_Singh_corruption_cas This one is a good example where his job was a random "Land clearing" engineer took tribes for illegal real estate developments and had tens of millionaires in USD in their coil. They find top good end jobs (sometimes unqualified) and rake it in. There's probably worth starting an FBI groups to see congress and senators that have property well beyond their salary. Plenty of examples from india: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33984185 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33984185 https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/10/527803742/episode-770-when-indias-cash-disappeared-part-one https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/10/527803742/epis... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_in_India?oldformat=true#2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_in_India?oldf... https://www.wikiwand.com/en/D._K._Shivakumar#/Controversies_and_Corruption_ChaIrges https://www.wikiwand.com/en/D._K._Shivakumar#/Controversies_... We need similar anti-corruption bills (or at least rankings) task forces to investigate congress and the multi thousand page documented.

js2 6y ago
My reading of the article is Hanlon's razor (“don’t attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”), not corruption/grift.
tomcam 6y ago
That’s an offensive comparison. I believe it is clear that the US is by far the world leader in bureaucratic grifting.

rangoon626 6y ago

Between this and the "pork" that was recently scrutinized, I am completely disgusted that local, state and federal government thinks that they have a blank check care of tax payers. Of course it's been this way forever, but this is getting out of hand. 200m missing, and the state is having massive forest fires, electrical outages and way too many people living in tent cities. What an absolutely disgusting waste.

gedy 6y ago
It's the 5th largest economy in the world, ahead of even India, and with 2% of the population to take care of. Must be all Prop 13's fault, no waste here behind the curtain. /s
- novok 6y ago
  Prop 13 incentivizes cities to reject new housing because it is net revenue negative compared to commercial properties. That and it disincentivizes old people to politically advocate for affordable housing, because they don't have skin in the game / are free riders and thus do not feel the pain like everyone else. They end up ferociously protecting their boomer bank account (house value) because they cannot see beyond their own personal situation.
  - gedy 6y ago
    My comment was about lost revenue and how Prop 13 is blamed for all money ills, not the points you are addressing.

Justin_K 6y ago

The sad part is that CA remains a one party state and this will just get swept under the rug. The power is too unchecked.

legulere 6y ago
As a European I ask myself why there’s no proportional voting system at all in the US. The states should be independent enough to introduce one for themselves, and there are also referendums.
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  A switch to proportional voting could require constitutional changes in most places. Also, proportional voting introduces all kinds of unnecessary problems like not having districts and thereby constituents having their votes diluted and not having a specific representative. Which is one things the American system gets right. What we really need is a switch from "first past the post" to approval/score/range voting, which would dissolve the two party system by eliminating spoilers and thereby making third parties viable. Score/range voting is "that thing the Olympics uses"; approval voting is "that thing the Olympics uses if the only possible scores a judge can give are 0 or 1". As far as I can tell the biggest impediment to this is a lot of people proposing alternative systems that aren't as good (e.g. IRV) and then no change is made because proponents of change are divided on which change to make.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > A switch to proportional voting could require constitutional changes in most places. Less places than you might think. It especially wouldn't for Congress (so long as it was proportional by a method similar to STV within state delegations, or within some subset of state delegations), as the only barrier there is a statutory prohibition on at-large districts for delegations greater than 1, adopted to head off the use of FPTP at-large districts to systematically deny representation not minorities. > Also, proportional voting introduces all kinds of unnecessary problems like not having districts Party list proportional would do that, but most other proportional systems would not. > and thereby constituents having their votes diluted Proportionality doesn't dilute votes; the more proportional a system is the more efficiently it allocated votes to give them maximum effect. > and not having a specific representative Proportional systems don't need to have that effect, either, no matter how you measure it (and FPTP—and any other simple singlr-member district system—definitely has that effect for supporters of the nonwinning party in a district, who are effectively unrepresented entirely.)

onetimemanytime 6y ago

Well, she wasn't hired to cause problems and rocks people's boats. Now these hard working fellas even got bad press May sound sarcastic but...

drtillberg 6y ago

It's never the original problem, it's always the cover-up. Seems like an interesting project for an ambitious Assistant U.S. Attorney.

known 6y ago

TRUTH is always suppressed in the name of trust/loyalty/compliance/privacy/conspiracy/discipline/patriotism/sedition/job/national security/unity/intellectual property

perryizgr8 6y ago

The real graft was stealing that money from citizens in the first place.

0x445442 6y ago

Slightly off topic but indirectly relevant... Any acceptance of a Government backed crypto currency should be contingent on moving all Government transactions to an open blockchain ledger.

IG_Semmelweiss 6y ago

the sad truth in this story is that the former top boss hired Stebbins and did the right thing.... then former top boss gets fired due to the the CA wildfires fiasco.... which very likely accrued for a long time, well before the former top boss' got the job. So now the hero, has no protection from the top, and new bureaucrat goes in for the kill. Now the person that hired the hero, and the hero herself.... are out, for trying to make things better. The good guys get grinded out of the system , by the system itself

Kapura 6y ago

It feels like I live in a country where every level of government is unbelievably corrupt, but also completely unfixable. How are you supposed to address the sorts of issues that lose $200,000,000 of state money if the people who try to do so get fired? I don't see a way out of this mess, and it makes me want to move somewhere... better.

tekproxy 6y ago
Systems tend to break down over time. This is normal. People getting fed up and trying to fix it is normal too. "Hard times create strong people. Strong people create good times. Good times create weak people. Weak people create hard times." We only get the leaders and government we deserve.
swiley 6y ago
The problem with California is that they tend to keep putting all their eggs in the same broken basket.
- aliljet 6y ago
  I'm curious what that broken basket is?
  - zbrozek 6y ago
    I'm not sure what GP had in mind either. But if I were trying to build on that statement, I'd say that a single party political landscape hasn't been good. Having at least three or four healthy competitive parties and a need to build coalitions seems like it would be really helpful. But that isn't the American way.
    - wizzwizz4 6y ago
      Fixing the voting system wouldn't solve the American Populism problem (where promising to “pull the ladder up” is a guaranteed win among most people who've already climbed it, and even some who haven't), but it would render that possible.

ykevinator 6y ago

"missing" is so misleading, "uncollected" would be so much more honest

dukeofdoom 6y ago

Reminds me of this story I read yesterday. You can't question the system. Or the system questions you. So illiberal. "Michigan’s Democratic attorney general vowed Tuesday to pursue legal punishments against attorneys who have challenged the state’s election results" https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/22/dana-nessel-michigan-attorney-general-threatens-si/ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/22/dana-nessel...

hallman76 6y ago
FTA > “We’ll go to the Attorney Grievance Commission on some cases, where we know for a fact that there were intentional misrepresentations that were made, the kind where there is no question of the facts,” she said, according to The New York Times. > “If you have your name attached to it and you’ve made intentional misrepresentations, I absolutely think you ought to be held accountable,” she said. This seems pretty reasonable to me.
- dukeofdoom 6y ago
  Election was the "most secure in American history", its a fact. Here is the official document proving it. https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-election https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-electio... So according to you, any lawyer that questions this irrefutable, official documented fact, should be sanctioned for misrepresenting facts. Lawyers should be punished, fined or disbarred or even imprisoned for making arguments. Perfectly reasonable position.

annoyingnoob 6y ago

Someone needs to explain both sets of accounting practices to the public. Its public money we are talking about. Californians pay tons of little taxes on utilities to fund improvements and service for the less privileged - we expect that money to be put to use and not to line the pockets of utilities. Its quite obviously that our utilities have completely failed when it comes to maintenance and improvements. What are the folks managing these finds doing other than fighting? Time to explain yourselves.

everybodyknows 6y ago
> money to be put to use and not to line the pockets ... How about this example: https://electricenergyonline.com/article/energy/category/ot-it/53/873693/cpuc-invests-more-than-20-million-in-broadband-infrastructure-and-access-for-unserved-california-households.html https://electricenergyonline.com/article/energy/category/ot-... > $11 million in grant funding ... 740 unserved households First project on the list: https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M355/K247/355247969.PDF https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M355/K... > up to $7,603,656.30 ... 1,000 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 1,000Mbps upload to 588 unserved households. So, gigabit Ethernet, at a cost of only $12,931 per household. >According to the California Interactive Broadband Map, the area only has access to dial-up service. According to my search of that very same site just now, three competing cellular providers serve data to Williams, with T-Mobile claiming minimums of 9/4 Mbps. https://www.broadbandmap.ca.gov/ https://www.broadbandmap.ca.gov/ > residential and low-income broadband pricing plans ... for two years starting from the beginning date of service. ... 25 Downstream(Mbps)/25 Upstream(Mbps) - $25/month Wondering how many of those 588 households are behind on their monthly bills just now? How many would, if given the choice, prefer to have the CPUC pre-pay for them a couple of years of cellular hotspot service, and simply refund the remainder of "their" $12,931 in cash, so they can all be assured of making their rent or mortgage payments for a while? About 588 households, I would guess. My theory: It's a subsidy program for the broadband landline industry. Regulatory capture, as usual.

zug_zug 6y ago

I think there's whistleblower statute that protects such employees and even offers huge financial rewards to people who report financial frauds. I imagine she's eligible. [1] https://www.helmerfriedman.com/whistleblower-programs-reward/ https://www.helmerfriedman.com/whistleblower-programs-reward...

WarOnPrivacy 6y ago

I like how much coordination went into framing the director vs how much didn't go into auditing.

spanktheuser 6y ago

I'm struck that the commission directors proceeded despite the ample evidence they knew would surface should the corrupt firing be contested. It seems that don't fear personal consequences for their actions. Disposing of limited liability or significantly weakening it seems necessary.

jayd16 6y ago

Can someone clear up the timeline for me? Text messages show Batjer was gunning for Stebbins for over a year but the news report seems to be pushing the juicy headline that its in response to this recent report? Does that really add up?

jjd33 6y ago

That picture of her wearing the jewellery says all. The US is as corrupt as China Russia and Iran are they just are corrupt in a different way.

mleonhard 6y ago

San Francisco's accounting is similarly incomprehensible. I tried to download the city's annual report and failed. There is none. Or rather, there are several, and all are incomplete. I believe there are several large scandals brewing in SF government and many government officials are committing crimes against the citizens. I hope ProPublica or another journalism organization will take on the project to uncover them. I just donated to ProPublica. I hope you will, too.

alok-g 6y ago

There have been orders-of-magnitude bigger issues ($31.65 Billion per the following article): https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/05/29/31-65-billion-california-accounting-errors-higher-than-combined-gdp-of-jamaica-iceland/ https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/05/29/31-65-billion-cal... Not those who expose, but those who cause, should be the ones fired.

everybodyknows 6y ago
>2014