The government mandates minimal standards for safe vehicles, for mileage standards, and for their safe production and distribution. It regulates interstate commerce and freight charges.

Narrowing the issue to personal transportation vehicles of choice doesn’t much help their argument. How you get to work, be it moped, ten-year old Taurus or armored limo, doesn’t affect public health. It has no impact on schools, hospitals, public and private offices, the avoidance of pandemics or the maintenance of competitive levels of productivity by having a healthier, safer, more secure family lives.

The WSJ doesn’t much care what the government spends taxpayers’ money on, so long as it goes to the Right people, exactly the right people, and no one else – and that it get nothing back in exchange for it.

Which means that had the program been running smoothly, it would be a line item on her business agenda. If the program already had a history of significant troubles – such that its audit resulted in the worst grade in the country – it ought to have been a topic on every cabinet meeting with detailed follow-ups so that just this sort of scandal were avoided.

So much of the scandal aspect of this could relate to her apparent Sgt. Schultz, know-nothing, do-nothing mentality, at least where it’s about program that did not promote her aspirations to higher office.

Had she not resigned, even Alaskan Republicans, let alone Democrats and ordinary citizens hurt by this mismanagement would have shouted for her impeachment. The resulting investigations of this program – and defending a legitimate rising tide of lawsuits – would have consumed substantial resources. Might they also have led to the discovery of yet further problems with her “stewardship” of state government?

Remember that “everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” – Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Signing off for now. “Discuss among yourselves.”

A particularly alarming finding concerns deaths of adults in the programs. In one 2 1/2 year stretch, 227 adults already getting services died while waiting for a nurse to reassess their needs. Another 27 died waiting for their initial assessment, to see if they qualified for help.

How do those numbers compare to other states? To the pre-Palin era?

I’m not sure how much of this failed program is the current Governor’s direct fault. The shortfall in funds for looking at home care needs began under the Frank Murkowski administration, and was exacerbated by the legislature’s low funding of it. The cycle began around 2004-2005, before Palin was elected.

But it just got worse under Palin. I’ve heard a lot of stories from seniors about this, at events held by the Democratic Party in Alaska, involving seniors. It is good to see the Feds finally jumping in. That wasn’t unexpected, though. Details of these lawsuits had been kept pretty quiet, though, until Lisa Demer’s ADN article came out today.

Palin has been a bad influence on so many departments’ long-term planning. She requests Department Heads to only send her good news for her twitter. I wonder where or when she has expected them to give her the fucking truth?

[Rebecca] Hilgendorf has broad professional experience in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, physical and developmental disabilities, and complex medical conditions. She began her career with Health and Social Services 26 years ago and has served Alaskans across the state in a variety of positions based in Palmer, Wasilla, Fairbanks and Anchorage.

Hilgendorf currently serves as a Commissioner on the Commission on Aging and is a licensed Nursing Home Administrator. She holds a bachelor of science degree in therapeutic recreation from the University of Florida and has completed all but the thesis required to obtain a master’s degree in special education through the University of Alaska.