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Investigative report
Read The Desert Sun's full investigation into the tribe's audit history and view related documents at mydesert.com/tribalmoney
Audit findings
The Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program's required audits have outlined serious negative findings each year since 2002, with many of the same issues persisting for years despite tribal assurances that fixes were in place or on the way.
The Desert Sun analysis of the audits revealed:
The federal government in 2005 found that the program potentially “misused” more than $6 million in taxpayer money in fiscal years 2002 and 2003.
Program officials were able to justify some of the spending, but agreed in 2007 to pay a penalty of more than $1.5 million as a result of misuse of welfare funds.
“As of December 2008 the tribe is not in compliance with the terms of the agreement,” the tribe's auditor stated in September 2009.
Year after year, how much money the program has on hand, how much it has spent or whether spending followed federal laws and program rules often could not be verified because of the “inaccurate,” “misstated” or incomplete financial records of the tribal program.
More than $50,000 in undocumented credit card expenditures by program administrators, most carrying late fees and interest penalties.
The Torres-Martinez tribal welfare program purchased 45 cars for use by 90 employees and then failed to track where the cars were or how they were being used.
More
Rep. Mary Bono Mack on Thursday said she intends to work to strip control of a tribal welfare program from the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, citing persistent evidence of waste and missing accountability for taxpayer funds.
“They've lost the ability to administer this program,” Bono Mack said of the Torres-Martinez, a tribe of approximately 445 members with a reservation southeast of the Coachella Valley along State Highway 86 and the Salton Sea's western shore. “They've lost the credibility to administer the program.”
Bono Mack on Wednesday wrote the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, expressing her concern and seeking clarification on a number of points related to the tribal welfare program.
Assemblyman Brian Nestande called for a state-level investigation into the program as well.
“If audits are not correct, there should be oversight at both the state and federal level,” the Palm Desert Republican said.
“The taxpayers have a right to assume there's an ongoing process to make sure those tax dollars are spent correctly.”
The lawmakers' comments come in response to a Desert Sun investigation published Sunday that examined seven years of audits from the Torres-Martinez Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, as well as thousands of pages of other related government documents.
The newspaper's investigation found a long history of mismanagement and deficient financial accounting in the tribal program, outlined in the audits and other documents.
“This type of abuse is incredibly maddening for the American people,” Bono Mack said.
The Torres-Martinez program has spent more than $123million in taxpayer funds since 2002, according to its audits. It currently receives more than $20 million per year in federal and state funding to provide social services to impoverished Native Americans in most of Riverside County and all of Los Angeles County.
Torres-Martinez officials did not respond to messages left Thursday.
In a statement to The Desert Sun on Wednesday, before Bono Mack's and Nestande's announcements, Tribal Chairwoman Mary Maxine Resvaloso “acknowledged past problems.”
“We as a tribe continue to strive to bring all our administrative and programmatic functions to a scale of excellence,” she stated.
Resvaloso said the Torres- Martinez program will continue developing its administration and programs, including “hiring the best qualified staff and establishing thorough and all-encompassing policies and procedures in the areas of finance, human resource and procurement.
“My goal is to build upon that foundation and continue to implement all necessary changes to ensure that the TANF program operates within all required guidelines, and provides the best services possible to our people,” she stated. “It is my strong belief that the TANF program we are operating today is accomplishing that goal.”
Finding another tribe
Bono Mack said she will seek to find another area tribe to take over the program from the Torres-Martinez, though she acknowledged that may be difficult to do.
“The first goal would be to find a tribe that is willing and has a better track record,” she said. “The Torres-Martinez simply cannot continue to do this.”
Bono Mack took particular issue with an earlier comment from Torres-Martinez tribal welfare program executive director Columba Quintero to The Desert Sun, saying the program hoped to have “squeaky-clean” audits by 2012.
“Year after year to have serious audit problems, but then to say within two years we'll get a handle on this? That's just not a good answer,” Bono Mack said.
She questioned why the federal Administration for Children and Families, a division of Health and Human Services that oversees and funds tribal welfare programs, failed to take more action despite the continued findings of missing and failed financial accountability in the Torres-Martinez program.
The congresswoman's letter to the Office of Inspector General outlined specific questions related to persistent issues with the tribe's program.
“We must not forget that if funds aren't being properly and soundly allocated for the purposes of TANF, then we are only cheating thousands of Native American families and millions of taxpayers,” a portion of Bono Mack's letter states.
A spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families did not return a message left Thursday by The Desert Sun.
“This is a perfect example of why big government programs don't work. You're asking one big bureaucracy to oversee another big bureaucracy,” Bono Mack said.
The nationwide tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program faces reauthorization by Congress this year. Bono Mack said the Energy and Commerce Committee on which she sits will have at least some jurisdiction over the process, and that she intends to work through her committee and others to:
Make sure funding levels for tribal welfare programs are appropriate, and accurately reflect the number of families being served.
The Desert Sun's investigation found that the Torres-Martinez program's funding was based upon an estimated monthly caseload of 5,200 families, but as recently as 2007, the tribe was serving fewer than 400 families. Today its caseloads are still about one-quarter of what was projected.
Make more specific how tribes may use welfare funds.
Bono Mack noted that federal law gives flexibility to tribes to use funding in any manner that advances the goals of the welfare program. “That's nonsense,” Bono Mack said. “It should be spelled out and very clear how they can use taxpayer money.”
Move the tribal welfare program “to an entity that can administrate it.”
Bono Mack said she's committed to reforming the program “in a way where the needy are still served but you cut out the waste, fraud and abuse.”
Calling for probe
Nestande said he would work to find the most appropriate committee in the state legislature to hear concerns about the program.
“Until they have a clean audit, there should be an investigation, and they should reach back in history and find out who's responsible for those bad audits and hold them accountable,” Nestande said.
Nestande also questioned why serious, negative audit findings, known as material weaknesses, were allowed to persist in the tribal program's audits year after year.
“There should be a system that flags these things and stops the programs until it's repaired,” he said.
“Those are questions a state agency should have to answer.”
Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, D-Coachella, is a member of the state Assembly's Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review.
The committee's Web site indicates it “is charged with investigating California state government programs and agencies to help improve program performance, find efficiencies and save taxpayers' money.”
In addition to its federal funding, the Torres-Martinez tribal welfare program has received more than $92 million in state general funds since 2001.
In a statement to The Desert Sun, Pérez said he found the issues raised by the newspaper's report “of great interest,” but said he had yet to have the opportunity speak with Torres- Martinez tribal officials or to “fully evaluate” the report.
“I have directed my staff to conduct its due diligence and look into the federal, state, and tribal administrative issues in question,” he said.
“Once my staff has completed its findings, I will be prepared to offer state recommendations and solutions regarding this matter.”
