Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Taxpayer Dollars

EPA Boss Alleges Billions In Green Grants Were Funneled Through Democrat Linked Groups
Just The News, Approved, National

EPA Boss Alleges Billions In Green Grants Were Funneled Through Democrat Linked Groups

By John Solomon | Just the News Lee Zeldin alleges that eight nonprofit "cutouts" were used to route billions to former Obama-Biden cronies. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin says he has made several criminal referrals after uncovering a major political enrichment scandal that routed billions in Biden-era green energy grants to Democrat cronies. “It's about self-dealing,” Zeldin tells Just the News. Zeldin said he has canceled or stopped about $29 billion in EPA grants – including one for $2 billion to a nonprofit tied to longtime Georgia Democrat election activist and failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams – after unmasking a series of pass-through groups used to route taxpayer monies to the politically connected. “As you loo...
Colorado Capitol Clash Erupts Over Nonprofits Receiving Advanced Taxpayer Funds
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Capitol Clash Erupts Over Nonprofits Receiving Advanced Taxpayer Funds

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – GOP opposition to a bill passed in the final hours of the 2026 Colorado legislative session around tax dollars going to non-profits stirred up a pot of anger and controversy among Democrat legislators tied to organizations that stood to benefit. So much so that one state senator pledged to pursue restriction next session prohibiting sitting lawmakers from profiting on taxpayer’s money. House Bill 26-1274, sponsored by Democrat Representatives Monica Duran from Jefferson County and Mandy Lindsay from Arapahoe County and carried in the Senate by Democrats Katie Wallace of Boulder and Mike Weissman of Adams County, changed the way non-profits can collect a portion of state grant money in the future. But amendments offered in th...
Gambling with taxpayer dollars: Colorado bill could allow nonprofits to get paid before work is done
Approved, Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, State

Gambling with taxpayer dollars: Colorado bill could allow nonprofits to get paid before work is done

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project Gambling taxpayer money to bolster our nonprofit ecosystem. When you hire someone to do something for you, do you give them an advance? I’ve done it both ways: cash on delivery only and an upfront payment for, say, the materials. The bill linked at bottom makes some noteworthy changes to the way our state interacts with multiple nonprofits it pays to do its work. There are multiple directions you could go in with your speculation, but I think it’s reasonable to conclude overall that the bill bolsters the connection between our government and nonprofits, that it enriches the tightly-interconnected ecosystem of NGO’s and nonprofits in Colorado.** Under current law, prior to this bill, if a state awards a grant to a nonprofit for so...
How many lawmakers benefit from taxpayer-funded nonprofits in Colorado?
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

How many lawmakers benefit from taxpayer-funded nonprofits in Colorado?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I saw a CPR article (see the first link below) about how much Colorado legislators are paid recently. It was one of their "Colorado Wonders" series. This is a series where CPR writes articles based on reader questions. If you want more on that series, see the second link below. I read the article on how much Colorado legislators are paid. If that's something you've wondered, give it a look. The answer is "not much", but if you look at the daily rate for what has always been and ought to continue to be a part-time job, it's respectable. Noting that it was completely missing from the CPR piece on legislator pay, I had a little Colorado Wonders of my own. I actually took the time to submit it to CPR last week immedi...
Follow the money faster: New tool unlocks Colorado spending data in minutes
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Follow the money faster: New tool unlocks Colorado spending data in minutes

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I have mentioned (and used) the TOPS system, our state’s online checkbook register, multiple times. It’s a great way to see who our state is paying and for what. I noticed recently (within the last 6 months) that the people who run it made it significantly harder to use: I’m not sure why, but at some point they made it so you can only go month by month.** I had a reader kindly volunteer his time and skill at computer programming to come up with a way to automate TOPS searches so I, and now you since the program is public, don’t have to click and wait month by month to find what we need. The program this person came up with lives online and is linked first below. They titled it a TOPS scraper. It’s pretty i...
Audits Across 28 States Halt $5.7 Billion in Improper Spending
Red State, Approved, National

Audits Across 28 States Halt $5.7 Billion in Improper Spending

By Ben Smith | RedState.com For years, fraud has been dismissed as a right-wing talking point from the Trump administration. A new report from state financial officers makes that claim harder to ignore. Across 28 states, auditors say they identified and stopped $5.7 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in a single year. Those findings span Medicaid eligibility systems, local government budgets, payroll controls, and nonprofit oversight. The money did not disappear into thin air. It was tracked, documented, and stopped once someone chose to look. The State Financial Officers Foundation’s 2025 Oversight Report lays out what 40 state treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers say they uncovered after digging into eligibility systems, payment flows, an...
Arapahoe Community College Battles Fake Students Exploiting Financial Aid Programs
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Arapahoe Community College Battles Fake Students Exploiting Financial Aid Programs

By: Natalie Chuck, Joe Vaccarelli | Denver7 Arapahoe Community College is one of several local schools fighting to identify "ghost students" before they enroll, Denver7 Investigates has found. EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was produced in collaboration with our partners at ABC News.  LITTLETON, Colo. — After the COVID-19 pandemic led to more online learning, community colleges and other higher learning centers have had to deal with a new phenomenon that’s hard to see: "ghost students." "Ghost students" are scammers who create fake identities or steal someone else’s to enroll in school, apply for federal financial aid and make off with the money, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. An ABC News investigation found that colleges across the country...
Medicaid billing error cost Colorado tens of millions, officials acknowledge
Approved, Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, Red State

Medicaid billing error cost Colorado tens of millions, officials acknowledge

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project HCPF really did accidentally pay millions in Medicaid claims. In an earlier op ed about Colorado's Medicaid expansion (see the first link below) and how that puts our state at higher risk of fraud, waste, and/or abuse, I asked the Colorado Division of Healthcare Policy and Financing, HCPF, the state unit which adminsiters Medicaid, about what they do to prevent or stop such problems.Their spokesperson responded with:“We constantly look out for fraud, waste and abuse (FWA) across all services & programs, but some programs or services are more susceptible to FWA than others. We have various processes/procedures in place for ‘high risk’ services to prevent inappropriate payments from going out the door. Tho...
Congress Moves Closer to Cutting Off Taxpayer Funds to Taliban
Just The News, Approved, National

Congress Moves Closer to Cutting Off Taxpayer Funds to Taliban

By Jerry Dunleavy | Just the News Congress is now one step closer to ensuring U.S. taxpayer dollars don't end up in Taliban coffers. Momentum is building in Congress to formally ban U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding the Taliban, after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday followed the House’s lead in passing the “No Taxpayer Dollars for Terrorists” bill. The bill – which “requires the Department of State to develop and implement a strategy to discourage foreign countries and nongovernmental organizations from providing financial or material support to the Taliban” – passed in the Senate committee on a 12-10 party-line vote, with all Republicans voting for the bill and all Democrats voting against it. The Taliban conducted a lightni...
Treasury Secretary Says Massive Federal Fraud of Up to $600 Billion a Year is Draining US Budget
TownHall.com, Approved, National

Treasury Secretary Says Massive Federal Fraud of Up to $600 Billion a Year is Draining US Budget

By Matt Vespa | Townhall Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently visited Minnesota, where he spoke with citizen journalists, local politicians, and law enforcement officials about the ongoing fraud allegations that have engulfed the state. The amount of money stolen is reportedly in the billions, maybe even the hundreds of billions. That figure was corroborated by Mr. Bessent, who said that on average, around 10 percent of the budget, around $300-600 billion, is stolen every year. He made these points to reporter Christopher Rufo: https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/2010391724410261880?s=20 This story comes after YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a viral video where he exposed these reportedly fraudulent daycare centers, the most infamous being “The Learing Center.”...

FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]

Join us at RMV's Freedom Festival

Click Here for Tickets!

This will close in 0 seconds