Where does your money go???

• Tampa, Florida -- Hillsborough County taxpayers pay $9 million a year for 40 staff attorneys to protect the county.

• PA taxpayers to pay $1 million to plaintiffs' attorneys following ACLU lawsuit

• Taxpayers spending over $1 million on lawyers to defend pay raise. Outside firms are charging to defend top officials of all three branches of government - lawmakers, a Supreme Court justice, and Gov. Rendell - against legal challenges arising from the unpopular legislative pay raise.

• A federal judge ordered the government Tuesday to pay more than $600,000 for failing to produce documents promptly in a lawsuit concerning the trouble-plagued Indian trust fund

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s compensation policies cost California taxpayers $86 million annually to provide health care and other public assistance to the retailer's underpaid workers, according to an analysis.

• Cigarettes: A Budget Buster: A Huge Cost to Society, And to Taxpayers, And A Factor in Causing Inflation. The most recent annual U.S. health care bill was $1.7 trillion for medical costs associated with secondhand smoke of about $5 billion and lost wages, smoking effects on mortality; smoking effect on personal health care, social security, and private pensions; cross-subsidies; life insurance impact; effects on morbidity, disability, and work loss, health effects on nonsmokers, etc.) "Study: Cigarettes Costs Society [smokers] $40 a Pack"
  

• The lawyers Private attorneys in Texas, Mississippi and Florida who negotiated the recent Florida tobacco settlement made out like bandits, fleecing tobacco companies, smokers and taxpayers for $8.2 billion in legal fees -- billions more than the lawyers themselves had demanded!

• All Taxpayers Pay When Politicians Raise Tobacco Taxes. $95 million tobacco tax hike will do little to curb smoking and much to feed politicians' addiction to our tax dollars.

• The Costly Relationship between Major League Sports and Government! During the 20th century, more than $20 billion has been spent on major league ballparks, stadiums, and arenas. This includes a minimum of $14.7 billion in government subsidies that has gone to the four major league sports —Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League —including more than $5.2 billion just since 1989,estimates indicate that at least $13.5 billion more will be spent on new ballparks, stadiums, and arenas for major league teams. Taxpayers are expected to pay more than $9 billion of that amount

• Hackensack University Medical Center According to their 990 Federal Tax Form, in 2002, this not-for-profit hospital made a profit of $29,065,458. In 03, they made a profit of $34,086,693. And in 2004, they reported making a profit of $29,778,979. According to the American Hospital Directory, on average they now mark up their actual costs by 496%! The previous year they marked up their actual costs by 455%.The CEO John Ferguson took home $1,056,078 in salary and $435,622 for extraordinary services and results in 2004. In addition, he received $135,785 in deferred compensation and $227,288 toward his SERP, for a grand total of $1,854,773! In 2003, his grand total came to $1,554,723 and in 2002 they came to $1,348,352! In 2004, this not-for-profit hospital spent a total of $1,800,356 on travel expenses.

• Taxpayers pay for Bush's campaign travel, paid almost entirely by taxpayers, President Bush is roaming far and wide on Air Force One to help Republicans retain control of Congress and capture statehouse contests in high-stakes midterm elections. In 15 months including back-to-back fundraisers Wednesday in Little Rock, Ark., and Nashville, Tenn., Bush has collected $166 million for the campaign accounts of 27 Republican candidates, the national GOP and its state counterparts across the country, according to the Republican National Committee.

• ^{In 1989, Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-TX) reportedly attempted to deny funding to the Department of Defense in retaliation for the Air Force's refusal to allow his girlfriend to board a military aircraft in the Middle East.}

• ^{In the fall of 1992, four lawmakers took 25 aides, spouses, and escorts on a 17-day tour of the Orient to study "infrastructure." Not coincidentally, the "infrastructure" they examined led to famous tourist attractions, such as the Great Wall of China and a giant panda preserve. Charges to taxpayers included $497,000 for an Air Force jet and $68,000 for meals, lodging, and bellhop tips.}

• ^{In 1994, House Public Works Committee Chair Norm Mineta (D-CA) led a similar 23-member entourage on an estimated $500,000 trip through Europe and Russia that included visits to "premier museums and … boat tours through St. Petersburg."}

• ^{In 1996, the House sent a 16-member delegation to the North Atlantic Assembly's biannual meeting in Paris, even though "opinions about the importance of the Assembly vary" and the transportation costs for the journey typically stick taxpayers for $470,000 per year.}

• ^{In December 1997, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, normally a strong supporter of Congressional fact-finding missions, chided lawmakers for accepting too much hospitality from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which sought Congressional exemptions from certain labor standards that could be applied to the territory's garment factories. "Trips by one or two leadership staffers and a couple of Members would be more than defensible," the Editors wrote. "But when 80-odd people flock halfway across the world from Capitol Hill to a sunny island destination in the guise of fact-finding, there's only one word to describe their collective actions: junket."}

• ^{The House International Relations Committee reported spending $722,462 on delegation travel in 1999, approximately 1/3 of which went to per-diem allowances for hotels, restaurants, and entertainment. However, some lawmakers ran up per-diem bills that were 2-3 times higher than "the maximum allowances available to foreign services officers and other agency officials" that are established by the State Department.}

• ^{In 1992, House and Senate leaders agreed to establish a $400 annual fee system for the House and Senate gymnasiums, which according to NTUF research is one-half to one-third the going rate for Washington, DC's better health clubs.}

• ^{The Senates Barber and Beauty Salon continues to shear taxpayers of their hard-earned funds ($1.8 million in subsidies from 1993-97). The exorbitant costs: seven barbers, five hair stylists, two manicurists, two receptionists, and a shoeshine attendant. In 1998, one barber was reported to have received $62,000, while a receptionist pulled down $47,000 and a shoeshine attendant $27,000. A generous pension plan ensures that these coiffeurs will be living in style long after their scissors stop snipping.}

• ^{Lawmakers who need their little ones looked after may use the Congressional employees' Child Care Centers. The Chief Administrative Officer's Statement of Disbursements reported that the House spent $132,000 on the operations of its facility during the first quarter of the year 2000.}

• ^{Most Californians are not aware that their legislators currently earn over $145,000 a year, while the average annual income of the state’s residents is only about $33,000. People’s Advocate, Inc. has reported that, "California legislators are now the highest paid state officials in America!" At the state level, our "public servants" receive an annual salary of $110,880 plus a tax free "per diem" allowance of $138 a day (about $30,000 a year), a free car that they are also permitted to use for personal purposes, plus a $400 monthly car allowance, plus insurance, plus other perks.}

*A Government owned company Applications International Corporation (SAIC) , is responsible for producing everything from karaoke to therapies for AIDS. "Karaoke?"

"SAIC produces roughly 30% of the U.S. karaoke CD+Graphics product for various publishers "

SAIC has countless offices worldwide and large installations in San Diego; McLean, VA, and Ft. Meade, Maryland. SAIC employs thousands of workers, 22,000 by a citation in the Los Angeles Times. The vast majority of its contracts -- 83 percent -- are with the government and military, meaning the company survives almost solely on taxpayer dollars.

In recent years, SAIC has purchased other companies including nine in 1996, alone. In the 1996 spurt, SAIC purchased Network Solutions, the Herndon, VA, company that runs the Internic and administers the registration of addresses on the Internet. The Network Solutions purchase resulted in a flurry of news articles noting that SAIC, as a secretive Pentagon contractor, was gaining control of one of the lynchpins of the Internet.

However, one of the most interesting deals was one that was shot down. SAIC was ready to spend $200 million in an attempt to purchase Aerospace Corp. in El Segundo, California, in 1996.

Last November, the U.S. Air Force rejected SAIC's bid to acquire the Pentagon-funded installation as "not in the best interest of of the U.S. government." Aerospace Corp. was a non-profit federally funded laboratory. Ninety three percent of its yearly $350 million dollar business went to the Pentagon and the Air Force, according to a November 15 article in the Los Angeles Times, said it didn't like the "prospect of losing the objectivity, independence and freedom from conflict of interest" that the company provided U.S. space operations, particularly those through the super secret National Reconnaissance Office.But wait. Lets take a look at another intriguing SAIC business venture.

In 1995, a movement started within the Pentagon to outsource a function of the Defense Logistics Agency -- the supervision of DoD junkyards around the country.

The DoD junkyards weren't profitable, according to companies wishing to take control of them in the name of better business practices.

Guess what company wanted to be put in charge of military junk? That's right. In 1995, SAIC in conjunction with EG&G, a Boston firm, was interested in taking control of DoD junk.

Here's the scenario. Taxpayer dollars -- your money -- pays for everything bought by DoD, including, for example, PCs, keyboards, peripherals, funny pictures from the officer's clubs, etc. Eventually, a great deal of the material winds up in the military junkyards, where it rots, or is not sold at competitive price, according to the people who want this business.

But if SAIC were in charge, then it could sell goods that you already paid for back to you at more competitive pricing. So the U.S. citizenry could pay for the items twice, with SAIC making a profit and the rest, presumably, going back to DoD.

And here's some more SAIC business activity not included in the company's press releases. At the end of 1995, federal prosecutors in San Diego announced a division of SAIC, Science Applications International Technology, had agreed to pay a $2.5 million settlement to the government stemming from a whistle-blower's claim the company had tricked the U.S. Air Force over navigational equipment.

Military investigators had raided SAIC offices in San Diego in 1994 while investigating alleged fraud in the DoD's Comanche helicopter program.

Agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, a part of the U.S. Defense Department, and the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, entered SAIC and seized dozens of boxes of documents.

SAIC developed liquid crystal displays used in the control panels of the Comanche. The company said it would cooperate fully with the investigation.

SAIC has also been charged with falsifying the results of test samples taken from a Superfund hazardous waste site it managed.

This particular case, from 1991, resulted in what was termed by federal prosecutors "the largest environmental fraud fine" they'd seen at the time.

SAIC, in this settlement, pleaded guilty to seven counts of making false statements to the Environmental Protection Agency and three counts of making false claims for payment in the Superfund case.

The company had been taking in more samples from the site than it could do. Melanie K. Pierson, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case said, "They were more interested in money than they were in health and safety concerns."

SAIC later fired six employees after an internal company investigation. No senior managers were involved, according to the SAIC probe.

And SAIC was ordered to pay $1.3 million as a result. Federal Judge Rudi M. Brewster called the case an example of "corporate greed."

Can you say the words corporate criminal?