{"id":247914,"date":"2026-04-02T04:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/247914\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T04:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:32:20","slug":"why-fraud-saturates-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/247914\/","title":{"rendered":"Why fraud saturates California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enablers of epic fraud.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the best one can say about Gov. Gavin Newsom and the rest of California\u2019s Democratic ruling class following revelations this week from a City Journal investigation.<\/p>\n

The results of the probe, published in The California Post<\/a>, found colossal fraud in nearly every large program the state administers.<\/p>\n

Wrote the investigators: \u201cThe best estimates suggest that, on the governor\u2019s watch [since 2018], fraudsters, scammers, and organized crime rings have stolen at least $180 billion from taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sum is staggering.<\/p>\n

\"California REUTERS<\/p>\n

It represents an abysmal performance by state government \u2013\u2013\u00a0a record that calls for change, accountability, and a massive shift in culture.<\/p>\n

The striking aspect of the City Journal probe was less about the details, many of which were already public knowledge, than the big picture:<\/p>\n

From unemployment benefits to subsidized health care for the poor to in-home health care benefits to welfare and homelessness programs, to, allegedly, a member of the governor\u2019s own office \u2026<\/p>\n

Fraud against taxpayers has saturated California.<\/p>\n

Christopher Rufo, one of the authors of the investigation, estimates \u2013\u2013 based on intel from federal officials \u2013\u2013 that 25% of the state\u2019s $197 billion [2025-26] annual Medi-Cal [health care for the poor] budget was lost to fraud.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s almost $50 billion in one year \u2026 in one program alone.<\/p>\n

Gov. Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and other state officials can no longer dismiss examples of fraud as \u201csmall,\u201d or isolated, or \u201cdealt with,\u201d or the product of partisan politics.<\/p>\n

On the contrary: Fraud here is colossal, rampant, ongoing, and well-documented.<\/p>\n

State programs have proven easy targets, with little oversight, few guardrails, and a vast supply of other people\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

The governor and legislators knew, or should have known, that these lax controls would send a valentine to thieves and scammers: Come on over.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019ve done little to course correct.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s good to see the federal government \u2013\u2013 including prosecutors and President Trump\u2019s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, led by Vice President JD Vance \u2013\u2013 take the case.<\/p>\n

No one should expect California\u2019s governor and legislators to fix this, given their record as enablers.<\/p>\n

Some of them, in fact, deliberately make it worse.<\/p>\n

In at least one case, a state legislator has sought to ease penalties for fraud in state welfare programs.<\/p>\n

City Journal, a publication of the Manhattan Institute, reported, \u201cIn April 2025, state Sen.\u00a0Lola Smallwood-Cuevas\u00a0sponsored a bill that would raise the threshold for felony welfare fraud from $950 to $25,000. The measure would also make it more difficult to charge perjury based on misstatements to county welfare departments. Republican state Assemblyman Carl DeMaio has said that if the bill becomes law, it will effectively \u2018legalize welfare fraud\u2019 in California.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost astonishing\u00a0that any legislator would propose such a measure.<\/p>\n

But as Assemblyman David Tangipa told the investigators, \u201cSacramento is pervaded by a culture of corruption\u201d and the governor himself has helped \u201ccreate an environment where corruption thrives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fraud in California, enabled by an arrogant political class, is epic.<\/p>\n

The reckoning should be, too.<\/p>\n

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