This week the Washington Post published a story we’ve been hoping to see since the start of our campaign - Elaine’s Labor Department has been doling out millions in noncompetitive grants at taxpayers’ expense, with little or no oversight for how the money was used:

In the past seven years, the Labor Department awarded more than $271 million to groups to help train workers for high-demand jobs, but a new audit suggests that the agency often failed to ensure the public was getting something for its tax dollars.

The Labor Department inspector general found that one of President Bush’s signature initiatives to better prepare the American workforce for industry changes was giving money to industry and nonprofit groups with almost no competition and little oversight.

You’ll remember that the woman in charge of all this, Emily DeRocco, recently left the Labor Department for a lucrative job at NAM, the same organization to which she doled out at least half a million dollars while at the DOL.

When DeRocco’s replacement was asked about the report’s serious allegations, his response was deeply disturbing:

Brent Orrell, acting assistant secretary for the Employment and Training Administration, which was supposed to monitor the grants, wrote that it was “not necessary or valuable” to measure and evaluate all grant results.

We’re troubled that Elaine seems not to see the problem: she told a congressional panel she was “passionate” about her questionable system, and even bragged to a Chamber of Commerce audience about the millions of taxpayer dollars doled out through non-competitive grants.

We’re looking forward to the continued investigation of these serious charges, as this is the second report from Elaine’s own agency that faults her for this lapse.