Panel Endorses Measure to Cancel Controversial Alexander Group Contract Alexander contract wastes taxpayer dollars, another instance of LePage mismanagement AUGUSTA – In a party line vote, the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday advanced a measure to cancel the controversial $1 million contract with the Alexander Group following a public hearing on the proposal. The Alexander Group’s no-bid contract to study Medicaid expansion contained serious flaws, including a $575 million math error and was delivered a month late. The group is expected to produce additional reports but none have been released or made public despite continued payments to the firm. “No expense approaching a million dollars can be allowed to continue under these glaring missteps. These are funds that are way too precious to be spent on an agency that fails to perform,” said Rep. Richard Farnsworth of Portland, the House Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. “If the Governor is unwilling to cancel the contract, it is our responsibility to maintain the integrity and credibility of our financial management with citizens of the State of Maine as they are footing the bill for the cost of this initiative.” The bill, LD 1794, would prevent further waste of taxpayer dollars. The LePage administration has paid the failed contractor $378,000 total, according to payment records from the non-partisan Legislature’s Office of Fiscal and Program Review. “The contract with the Alexander Group was a mistake to start with, and continuing to fund it only compounds the error,” said Senator Margaret Craven of Lewiston, the Senate Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and co-sponsor of the bill. “At a time when our state is desperately short of money, it is shameful that we are wasting so much on this contract.” The contract has $547,000 in unexpended funds, which could be used to address the budget shortfall, including restoring LePage’s proposed $400,000 cut to Head Start. During the hearing, Rep. Seth Berry of Bowdoinham, the House Majority leader and a former public school teacher, testified in support of cancelling the contract. “Early education funding for Head Start should not be on the chopping block when we have extra funds around to pay a failed contractor,” said Rep. Berry. “In contrast to the work of the Alexander Group, state support for early learning shows a significant return on investment in Maine.” The contract was paid for using federal and state dollars designated to help struggling families who are forced to turn to the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Senator Craven added, “We cannot sit idly by while Governor LePage takes money meant to feed hungry families and spends it on a flawed political report.” The Alexander Group contract is not the first one the LePage administration has bungled. The failed MaineCare ride contract debacle for transportation services left patients stranded, missing doctor’s appointments for dialysis and critical treatments. LePage’s chronic mismanagement has left Maine with a constant budget shortfall, a loss in certification and federal funding for the Riverview Psychiatric Center, a CDC document shredding scandal, and the worst record on private sector job growth in the country. The committee will hold a work session on the bill in the coming days.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 22:50:50 +0000
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