In my previous life, I honorably served as the Erie County Comptroller, the taxpayers’ watchdog who eliminated fraud, waste, and abuse within the walls of government.
It’s the same position currently held by John M. Kennedy, Jr. here in Suffolk County.
While I eventually served nine years and won three county-wide elections, I came from the private sector. My mission was to serve as a fresh set of eyes on out-of-control spending by a big bureaucracy to protect taxpayers.
It infuriated me how career politicians had little regard for struggling families who pay to keep the government afloat, who treated taxpayers like an unlimited blank check.
My first idea on how to save money was actually before I even took office. I was newly elected and meeting with Personnel about health care benefits when I was handed a lengthy list of massage therapists and acupuncturists.
That’s when I found out taxpayers were footing the bill for all government employees to receive 12 massages and six acupuncture sessions per year. This is a luxury found nowhere in the private sector.
Keep in mind, I’m all for alternative treatments to surgery that can help people heal at a lower cost.
Close inspection showed most workers were headed to fancy spas and using the perk as a luxury benefit, not an alternative to expensive surgical procedures. My review showed $1.4 million in taxpayer dollars were spent on this.
Did those savings make a massive dent in a $1.4 billion budget? Of course not, but a constant chipping away of frivolous spending like this sure did, ultimately saving money and finally showing respect to taxpayers who paid the bill in the first place.
For years taxpayers shelled out big bucks for this benefit. The problem: no one bothered to look at the budget, line by line, to ensure tax dollars were being spent wisely.
On a much, much bigger scale, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are doing exactly that to the federal budget.
The amount of fraud, waste, and abuse they are uncovering is shocking. I firmly believe that up until a few weeks ago, no one within the deep state, Congress, or the White House had ever bothered to look. The out-of-control national debt is more than $36 trillion and is expected to grow to $56 trillion in ten years.
Trying to keep up with the crookedness in Washington is like trying to drink out of a fire hose, so the South Shore Press is going to help steady the flow for you and have one spot on our website (SouthShorePress.com) and print edition called the “DOGE Report.”
It will be spearheaded by South Shore Press reporter Deborah Williams. She knows a thing or two about the ways of Washington DC, at one time working as a former Regional Director for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Williams worked on Capitol Hill, and now she’ll use that national political expertise to break down DOGE and highlight horrible government spending.
You know what they say when it comes to uncovering government corruption: “Sunshine is the best disinfectant.”
The South Shore Press is about to shine a bright light on the work being done by DOGE every week in our newspaper and online, all to show you the waste within the walls of Washington to cut the very abuse being brought to light.