June 19, 2008

Bredesen Administration Fails Mentally Disabled on Federal Funding

Last fall, even as it began spending more than $8 million ito add an underground ballroom project to the governor's mansion, the Bredesen admininstration slashed funding for certain health services for the state's more than 6,000 mentally disabled children.

Turns out, it was the tip of the iceberg.

The Tennessean reveals today that the Bredesen administration has allowed the state to miss out on tens of millions of dollars in federal money for the mentally disabled.

The administration has known about the problems for years, but has taken its own sweet time to fix them, allowing the state to continue to miss out on millions of dollars in federal funding. Just from April 2005 to May 2007, the administration's continued incompetence cost the state $31 million in federal funding.

This is just one department. There's no telling how many other departments are wracked by similar kinds of mismanagement and waste.