The Reason Mental Health Reform Failed In NC: This Is News To People?

An oversight report on the failure of mental health reform in NC is very, Very, VERY ugly.

When businesses are offered money through government programs and learn that there's little oversight, they will seek to capitalize, John Turcotte, head of the legislature's program evaluation division, said Wednesday.

"The department didn't anticipate that dynamic," Turcotte said. "When you turn off front-end controls, word gets out. If there is money to be made, people are going to find out."

The department did not anticipate that dynamic? Are you kidding me? Why not?

Non-profits have been doing it for years.

There were no controls . . . Nobody knew what it was for . . . Who is responsible for that? . . . How did that happen?

This is just pathetic. These people are running our state. And they could not manage their way through a wet paper bag.

Rep. Drew Saunders, a Mecklenburg Democrat, called the report "gory."

"It appears to me that some of these decisions almost rise to the level of being criminal," he said. "And looking at this report is almost like looking at crime scene photos."

I know the feeling. My life has been one never-ending crime scene photo.

I wonder if Representative Saunders thought the same thing when Carolinas Medical Center (in Charlotte) reaped the rewards of plundering the Medicaid coffers?

Charlotte being in Mecklenberg County and all.

Afterthought: This is rich. And you wonder why nothing gets fixed.

8/21 Update: Carolina Online has more.