Watchdog Group Claims CTA Overstated Bus Mileage Reports
By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 20, 2012 4:00PM
Earlier this week a government accountability watchdog group accused the Chicago Transit Authority of overstating its mileage reports for 30 years and receiving $150 million in federal taxpayer subsidies in the process.
The report by the group Cause of Action, “A Bus Tour of Chicago-Style Fraud,” based its claim on a 2007 audit which claimed CTA over-reported the mileage of its in-service buses and received between $1 and $5 million in funding from the Transportation Department that year. Cause of Action then claimed if they took that number and applied it dating back to 1982, it’s feasible the agency defrauded the Transportation Department of $150 million.
The primary point of contention in Cause of Action’s claim is “deadhead” (out of service) miles, which they claim were counted along with operational miles for the agency’s fleet. CTA spokesman Brian Steele told the Tribune’s John Hilkevitch CTA reported its bus mileage according to the Transportation Department’s guidelines like clockwork until last year, when the rules were changed. Cause of Action, however, points to Obama Administration senior adviser Valerie Jarrett’s tenure as CTA Board Chairwoman from 1995 - 2003, and current Transportation Department general counsel Robert Rivkin’s three-years as general counsel of CTA (2001 - 2004) as examples of CTA continuing to flout the rules.
Cause of Action, which bills itself as a “nonprofit, nonpartisan” watchdog group dedicated to government accountability, is headed by Dan Epstein, who previously worked at the conservative Koch Foundation.