News Journal Covering For Republican Criminal Embezzlement…Here’s How…
Disbelief breaks it down:
I think we’ve been misdirected quite successfully.
The issue here is that a lot of money was stolen from the State; the nepotism stuff is a collateral issue, but is being used to draw attention away from theft of State money.
Two reasons were given for the theft: “we had controls that they bypassed”, and “the scheme was complex”. The first reason is bullshit. In order for accounting controls to work, someone has to know about the controls and review the controls consistently. The controls are not put into evidence because that would make Cordrey and Wagner look like idiots. The second reason is bullshit. The scheme was not complex; there is simply no one watching the henhouse. The details of the scheme are not put into evidence because, again, the simplicity of the theft would make Cordrey look like an idiot for not catching it earlier, and not having controls in place and followed that would have prevented the theft.
The article by Barrish was brilliant. It points everyone to an issue collateral to the theft (nepotism), taking attention away from the theft. The problem here is State officials who have no idea what they are doing and are ignoring their duties as responsible custodians for State goods and services.
Well done, Mr. Barrish.
Lofink is described in the article as handling about 20 escheat claims a month. That’s less than one per State work day. In addition, TNJ states that most of the work was done by an outside contractor. In addition, TNJ states that various temporary employees also helped process claims.
So we have about 10 people handling less than one claim a day? And Lofink managed to fool them?
Yeah.
Contols over escheat claims:
1) verify existence of claimant through phone call and address look-up
2) supervisor of 1) authorizes check
3) internal audit reviews checks every other month to verify that check was made out to claimant verified in 1), and reviews depositing account information printed on back of cancelled check.Fellow posters: the issue here is no controls, no one in charge who understands controls, and what looks like a $300,000 payroll to look at less than one claim per day. Yes, nepotism is an issue over these jobs that are essentially ‘no show’, but the nepotism issue is WAY overshadowed by simple, garden variety lack of management on the part of upper State management.
The point above is that even in the absence of nepotism, any idiot could still steal money, or build a bridge to nowhere, or rape patients with little worry of being held accountable. The problem isn’t the State employee who may or may not be related to some one important; the issue is that those in charge are AWOL.
Nobody at the News Journal could have come up with that? Please.
Also – I’m really getting tired of all the high and mighty moralists on the Republican side who have nothing to say when it is a Republican in the police blotter.
“Also – I’m really getting tired of all the high and mighty moralists on the Republican side who have nothing to say when it is a Republican in the police blotter.”
Is Tony Lofink a registered Republican?
“The problem isn’t the State employee who may or may not be related to some one important; the issue is that those in charge are AWOL.”
I wholeheartedly agree and I am outraged at the overwhelming, across-the-board incompetence of this Administration.
C’mon Dave,
If the name was Kowalko you’d have a petition site up by now demanding the member to step down.
Don;t get all coy on me. It does nto suit you.
Dave does recognize the State’s administrative problems, however, I do note that he is a bit more vocal when a Dem is involved, and suspiciously silent when its a Repub.
Dave, the credibility of your concern regarding State management would be improved if you were a bit less obviously biased.
ONce again — I’ll post here as well as the last entry — whenever you dabble in “explaining” journalism, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. It’s perfectly legitimate to question the focus on nepotism, but keep in mind, it’s tough to get the information you’re asking for if Cordrey won’t talk to the newspaper.
But no, obvious explanations aren’t good enough when you’re partisan-blind. Try advocating for good government instead of nibbling your fingernails about Republicans. There’s more evidence of government involvement in 9/11 than of GOP leanings in this story. But hey, it’s your credibility, so I guess it’s yours to piss all over. Looks pretty stupid, though.
Al,
Your willing suspension if disbelief is amazing.
Jason, your ignorance is appalling. I’ve done that work for 25 years. How about you?
That does it. I’m calling in.
Actually, Al, this one looks to me of State officials ‘crossing-the-aisle’ to cooperate in a group ass-cover.
They can’t disclose their controls? Why not? Controls aren’t secret. Accounting textbooks cover about anything they could have been using. Which is the issue; in all likelyhood there were no controls, or the controls in place weren’t being followed.
Cordrey won’t talk to the press? Pretty obvious why. If a reporter with some accounting knowledge started asking him questions about accounting controls, the result would be “dumb-struck deer in headlights”. I’d be amazed if the guy ever heard of Sarbanes/Oxley.
Won’t disclose details of the scam? Because it was probably so simple that disclosure would highlight the ineffectiveness of Cordrey’s management.
Al, this one ain’t partisan; it stinks on both sides. And the one’s covered with shit are Delaware taxpayers.
The thief could have been anyone with the lack of oversight by Cordrey and Wagner. This nepotism stuff is just these two throwing Lofink Sr. to the wolves in order to draw attention away from themselves.
Dis, I agree entirely. The part I doubt is that TNJ was involved in some sort of “cover-up.” My experience is that what many people think is calculated wrongdoing is just cynicism. I’m just glad that, after all these years, somebody is willing to make an issue out of all the nepotism.
Jason, thanks for calling in. That’s how we can get TNJ’s attention. Frankly, I don’t think anybody there did the math to conclude how little work was being done by the employees in that office. I know they listen, so after this morning, maybe they will.
On the other hand, if they had fewer employees we’d all be asking why so much money was being overseen by only two people, or whatever you think the right staffing level is. Financial controls require having multiple pairs of eyes on the data.
The outside contractor thing needs to be explained, too.
“If the name was Kowalko you’d have a petition site up by now demanding the member to step down.”
Why? The member didn’t do anything wrong.
Only got his son in a position to steal money from the state.
No big whoop.
So you’re saying that he is accountable for this? You’re awful close to a line I don’t think you want to cross.
I agree with Dave’s post #13. No one in Delaware politics is evidently accountable for anything.
Who do you think should be held accountable?
Joe.
Cordrey should resign. If it’s really ugly he should lose his pension too.
This has to be one of the most paranoid, conspiracy-laden posts ever to appear on this site.
Of course no one can talk about the controls now. The case is still under investigation and no one has been indicted. The NJ can’t be part a coverup when no one will provide the information.
And the business about the employees handling 20 cases a month ASSUMES that handling these cases are the only duties these employees have. Nearly every employee for DE has to preform “other duties as assigned,” which can often be huge.
Your partisanship makes you seem silly.
Is it a conspiracy if everything is in plain sight?
I’m not sure. I’m asking.
Controls to make sure that a government department (with some narrow exceptions) really ought not be secret — even if there is an investigation ongoing. It is, after all, some SOPs to ensure that there is efficiency and accountability.
The 20 cases per month is the data that you get from the NJ. They reported the # of cases and the consultants involved as if that had some meaning to this story. I would presume that the NJ would have given us the narrative on this kid’s other duties if that had some pertinence. Or you could just decide that the lack of that info is part of the overall shoddiness of the NJ reporting on this thing.
Dana says this post is paranoid and conspiracy laden. Well, let’s look at the facts as reported by TNJ:
1) the State has admitted that about one million dollars has been stolen;
2) the State says no arrests have been made;
3) the State says Lofink Jr. was involved in the theft
4) item 2 indicates that item 3 is a bit curious as to why no arrest has been made
5) Lofink Jr. has apparently dropped off the face of the earth.
6) The state officials in charge of Lofink and state accounting controls say they can’t divulge any information about controls or how the controls were breached.
Dana: if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck….
Two important items.
One, the established safeguards did not work, that fact is pretty sad and it raises the point many agencies probably have the same state of affairs.
Two, given the ‘workload’ of the office I think it would be wise to execute the top down review of all agencies for staffing and mission.