Special report online
Read The Desert Sun's investigation and view tribal audits and other key documents at mydesert.com/tribalmoney
A Desert Sun review of eight years of audits, thousands of pages of other state and federal government documents and interviews with current and former employees of the Torres-Martinez Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program revealed:
The federal government in 2005 found the tribal welfare 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.
Year after year, how much money the program had on hand, how much it spent or whether spending followed federal laws and program rules often could not be verified because of its “inaccurate,” “misstated” or incomplete financial records.
The Torres-Martinez tribal welfare program's funding — an annual federal award of more than $20 million and state funding of between $13.6 million and $18.6 million per year — is based on an estimated monthly caseload of 5,238 families.
Yet in 2007, six years into the Torres-Martinez program, it was serving fewer than 400 families per month — 7 percent of its initial projections. Today caseloads are still only about one-fourth of what was projected when the program was formulated. Despite this, the Torres-Martinez tribal welfare program's funding levels remain unchanged.
In a 2005 letter to federal officials, then-Torres-Martinez Tribal Chairman Raymond Torres acknowledged more than $55,000 in undocumented credit card charges by administrators of the tribal welfare program.
Five top employees in the tribal welfare program “received salaries as much as 25 percent over their employment history and then received an average of $20,000 increases within 90 days of hiring,” the program's auditor stated in 2003. No records of job descriptions or performance reviews were provided to auditors.
The Torres-Martinez tribal welfare program purchased 45 cars for use by 90 employees and then failed to accurately track where the cars were or how they were being used.
Read The Desert Sun's investigation and view tribal audits and other key documents at mydesert.com/ tribalmoney
About the tribe
The Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian reservation was established by executive order of President Ulysses S. Grant on May 15, 1876. The tribe's lands cover almost 40 square miles of checker-boarded parcels from La Quinta to Salton City, along State Highway 86.
Approximately 11,000 acres of the reservation are submerged under the Salton Sea, which formed after an irrigation canal bringing water from the Colorado River to the Imperial Valley breached in 1905. Water flowed for two years into an area below sea level before it could be dammed.
The Torres-Martinez tribe had 214 members at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census. The tribe currently has approximately 445 members, according to its most recent audit.
The Torres-Martinez Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was established in 2001. The program is intended to address many issues surrounding the poverty, unemployment and other social challenges on the Torres-Martinez reservation and confronting American Indians elsewhere in Riverside and Los Angeles counties.
More
Dissatisfied with the answers she's received from a local tribal welfare program and the federal agency that oversees it, Rep. Mary Bono Mack said 2011 and the return of a Republican majority to the U.S. House of Representatives could bring further scrutiny of the tribal program's use of taxpayer money.
“The change of leadership in the House is going to be helpful in terms of investigating this,” said Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, referring to the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians' Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
“One of our pledges to America is to cut down government spending and certainly waste, fraud and abuse, and this is a likely place to start.”
An investigation by The Desert Sun early this year found evidence of longstanding mismanagement and waste and a lack of financial accountability within the tribal program, which provides cash, job training and other social services to Native Americans in Riverside and Los Angeles counties.
The tribal program receives a federal grant worth more than $20 million each year as well as about $14 million to $19 million in annual matching funds from the state of California.
The federal Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that oversees tribal welfare programs, found that the Torres- Martinez program “misused” more than $1.5 million in taxpayer money in fiscal years 2002 and 2003.
Over nearly a decade, the tribal welfare program has never had an annual audit without a finding of material weaknesses in its accounting. Those findings indicate a likelihood that the financial records upon which the program is relying are inaccurate.
Both the Administration for Children and Families and the state Department of Social Services, however, have cited progress by the tribe in addressing its transparency and accountability in recent years.
Given the two funding agencies' position, Bono Mack said, she expects their support when she looks to cut the Torres-Martinez welfare program's funding “to an appropriate level that matches their ability to administer this program effectively.”
“If the people who are on the front lines, who are closest to the folks who need the money, if they felt there was enough money to use for purposes that were spelled out in their past audits, that makes a clear case that they had too much money,” she said.
Torres-Martinez officials did not respond to multiple messages left over several days seeking comment.
Administration for Children and Families spokesman Kenneth Wolfe also declined comment last week, citing a lack of sufficient time before the federal government's holiday break to compile necessary information to assess the current status of the Torres-Martinez tribal welfare program.
Bono Mack on Dec. 21 sent a letter to Torres-Martinez tribal vice-chair Diana Chihuahua, urging tribal officials to respond to a request Bono Mack sent in February for information about the tribal welfare program. Among the items of information sought by Bono Mack in a Feb. 2 letter to Chihuahua were:
Information about the tribe's compliance department and its activities
The status of the tribe's penalty payments for misusing taxpayer funds
The welfare program's annual caseloads
The justification for purchasing more than 40 vehicles with tribal welfare funds and the current inventory of vehicles
Tribal interactions with officials from the federal and state agencies that provide the program's funds — including if there were ever any times when tribal welfare program officials sought assistance but did not receive it.
Torres-Martinez officials did not respond to the letter, but did seek a meeting with Bono Mack or members of her staff, she said. Bono Mack said she considered getting answers in writing to her questions a prerequisite to any meeting.
Agencies' findings
Bono Mack's position puts her at odds with the federal Administration for Children and Families and the state Department of Social Services, which provide the Torres-Martinez welfare program with funding.
Officials with both agencies have cited recent improvements in the tribal program's financial practices and record-keeping.
The Department of Health and Human Services cited “significant progress” by the Torres- Martinez program in response to questions Bono Mack submitted to the agency last spring.
State Social Services Director John A. Wagner said he “is satisfied with the progress” of the Torres-Martinez program in a March 18 letter to state Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review.
The committee looked into the tribal welfare program at the request of local Assembly members Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, and V. Manuel Pérez, D-Coachella, who also is a member of the committee.
Pérez responded to a request for an interview on the Torres- Martinez tribal welfare program's status with a written statement:
“It is my understanding that the Administration for Children and Families has approved the corrective actions taken by Torres-Martinez to remedy past deficiencies related to its TANF program. This outcome informs me that the Torres-Martinez tribe has effectively responded to documented concerns and pursued a concerted effort to restore the public's trust.
“I am glad to know that the appropriate state agencies have found things to be in a satisfactory state, given that the employment and job training opportunities stemming from the Torres- Martinez TANF program serves as a vital lifeline to one of the most impoverished communities in the greater desert region.”
Attempts to reach Nestande for comment were unsuccessful.
Bono Mack said her efforts to review the Torres-Martinez welfare program over the course of the year were thwarted by a Democratic-led Congress that “made no attempt whatsoever to rein in government spending, nor to examine waste, fraud and abuse.”
She said she expected the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee may be where any review of the tribe's program lands. The committee gavel is passing in the new year to a fellow Republican whose district also includes portions of Riverside County, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista.
Bono Mack's attempts to find another local tribe to take over operation of the welfare program was not met with any takers.
Bono Mack was asked what the Torres-Martinez program's officials can do to address her concerns.
“They could start by answering my questions,” she said. “They can be transparent; they could ask for help in administering the program.”
The Desert Sun's investigation
A Desert Sun review of eight years of audits, thousands of pages of other state and federal government documents and interviews with current and former employees of the Torres-Martinez Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program revealed:
The federal government in 2005 found the tribal welfare 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.
Year after year, how much money the program had on hand, how much it spent or whether spending followed federal laws and program rules often could not be verified because of its inaccurate, misstated or incomplete financial records.
The Torres-Martinez tribal welfare programs funding an annual federal award of more than $20 million and state funding of between $13.6 million and $18.6 million per year is based on an estimated monthly caseload of 5,238 families.
Yet in 2007, six years into the Torres-Martinez program, it was serving fewer than 400 families per month 7 percent of its initial projections. Today caseloads are still only about one-fourth of what was projected when the program was formulated. Despite this, the Torres-Martinez tribal welfare programs funding levels remain unchanged.
In a 2005 letter to federal officials, then-Torres-Martinez Tribal Chairman Raymond Torres acknowledged more than $55,000 in undocumented credit card charges by administrators of the tribal welfare program.
Five top employees in the tribal welfare program received salaries as much as 25 percent over their employment history and then received an average of $20,000 increases within 90 days of hiring, the programs auditor stated in 2003. No records of job descriptions or performance reviews were provided to auditors.
The Torres-Martinez tribal welfare program purchased 45 cars for use by 90 employees and then failed to accurately track where the cars were or how they were being used.
Read The Desert Suns investigation and view tribal audits and other key documents at mydesert.com/ tribalmoney
