Lawnmowers, Double Dipping, and Your Homeland Security Tax Dollars

Since 9/11, Texas has raked in $587 million in homeland security money. But new audits suggest it has a poor record of managing that money. Among the cases cited in the state audit:

• One county bought 18 radios -- from a company owned by one of the county commissioners.
• The county also paid to install one of the radios in the commissioner's personal car.
• Another jurisdiction bought a trailer -- to haul lawn mowers to "lawn mower drag races."
  

A report last year from the House Select Committee on Homeland Security found money meant to fight terrorism being converted into pork:

One official from a rural county in Washington said of the items purchased with federal dollars: "Some of the equipment on the ODP (Office for Domestic Preparedness) list we don't even recognize. We think, well this looks good, maybe we'll need it. We're getting stuff we won't use. This equipment could have gone to Seattle where the real threat is."

And don't forget the Dodge Durango no one in South Dakota is allowed to drive. (Dallas Morning News)