More Spending, Less Oversight: Washington’s Growing Accountability Problem

Washington taxpayers have been told for years that rising taxes and ever-larger budgets are necessary to solve urgent problems like homelessness, housing availability, crime, taxes, education, etc.) But spending has exploded as those problems are all worsening, and serious questions about how money is actually being used have gone unanswered.

Instead of immediate, independent investigations into credible allegations of fraud and mismanagement, elected officials are now asking taxpayers for even more money.

That’s the real issue Washingtonians should be focused on.

Consider just a few recent examples.

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington’s Employment Security Department lost more than $600 million to unemployment fraud after internal security requirements were loosened. Despite the scale of the loss, which was one of the largest public thefts in U.S. history, there was no comprehensive public accounting of who made those decisions or why. No senior officials were fired, disciplined, or held publicly responsible.

In King County, a preliminary audit of the Department of Community and Human Services examined $1.8 billion in homelessness spending. Auditors found documentation for only about 1% of transactions and warned that widespread fraud was likely. Even so, there has been little urgency from county leadership to fully investigate or explain where the money went — even as homelessness continues to worsen across Seattle.

Last year, journalist Brandi Kruse reported on alleged misuse of $250 million from Washington’s Community Reinvestment Program. These funds were intended to help low-income families become homeowners. Instead, the nonprofit administrators overseeing the money were accused of steering benefits to themselves and associates. The whistleblower in the case publicly described a lack of transparency and slow responses from both the Department of Commerce and the Attorney General’s Office.

At the same time, journalists like Jonathan Choe, Cam Higby, and Carleen Johnson have uncovered evidence of fraud in Washington’s subsidized childcare system. Rather than welcome scrutiny, Attorney General Nick Brown, and Auditor Pat McArthey have attempted to slow or redirect investigations, urging reporters to submit tips to an anonymous hotline, where no elected official has responsibility.

These cases all point to the same troubling pattern: massive public spending, weak oversight, credible allegations of abuse — and little appetite among those in charge to demand answers.

This matters even more now, as Seattle-area leaders and housing advocates push for higher taxes and expanded spending authority. Before taxpayers are asked to contribute more, they deserve proof that existing dollars are being managed responsibly and that misconduct is taken seriously when it’s uncovered.

Accountability isn’t partisan. Transparency isn’t optional. And public trust can’t survive if investigations are treated as inconveniences instead of necessities.

Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has an oversight problem and until leaders confront that reality, asking for more money should be the last thing on the table.