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Nov
4
2024
PRESS RELEASE
Michelle Steel Refuses to Answer for $1.2M in Taxpayer Dollars Giveaway to Campaign Print Shop that Manipulated Community Meal Program for Needy Seniors
Michelle Steel Refuses to Answer for $1.2M in Taxpayer Dollars Giveaway to Campaign Print Shop that Manipulated Community Meal Program for Needy Seniors
Steel Cancels FOX 11 Interview as Campaign Spirals Over COVID Funds Scandal, Refuses to Show Receipts
Garden Grove, CA — Embattled MAGA Congresswoman Michelle Steel abruptly canceled a scheduled Fox11 interview, backing out after learning reporters would question her about an explosive NPR LAist investigation into her latest scandal: redirecting $1.2 million in taxpayer funds intended for a senior meal program to her campaign’s mail and print vendor, DTN Tech. This vendor, a political ally with no federal grant management experience, charged taxpayers “more than triple the amount per meal” than comparable programs and refused to provide home delivery for vulnerable seniors, unlike every other program.
Steel’s scheme bears a striking resemblance to the corruption crimes her longtime political ally, Andrew Do, recently pled guilty to conspiring to steal millions of dollars meant to feed needy seniors. Notably, Do’s district was “the only one besides Steel’s to select a vendor without a known track record of providing taxpayer-funded meals.”
An independent audit found that the company was over three years late in submitting mandatory reports on their spending and paid itself the highest allowable amount in administrative costs – while NPR LAist discovered that “at least two-thirds of the county funding…went to restaurants” that were paying clients of Michelle Steel’s campaign print shop.
In June of 2020, Steel and Do each voted to authorize each Orange County Supervisor to reward more than $1 million in federal CARES Act funding for programs of their choice, using a procedure that, according to NPR LAist, “sidestepped the county’s usual transparency for taxpayer money, and allowed supervisors to make those spending decisions without public votes or competitive bidding.” This vote was listed as the first overt act in Andrew Do’s guilty plea documents. Instead of choosing an experienced non-profit organization that could quickly and competently stand up such a program, Michelle Steel selected her campaign’s for-profit mail and print vendor.
O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer called the funding method Supervisors Steel and Do used for their meals program a “horrible mistake by the board” that led to an unbelievable “lack of oversight,” – and Michelle Steel took full advantage. To make matters worse, not only did the mail firm receive tens of thousands of dollars from Steel’s campaign and thousands of taxpayer dollars from her congressional office…but also major business from Andrew Do.
Michelle Steel’s unwavering support for Andrew Do is well-documented, with numerous public statements lauding his “leadership” and “character.” When news broke in August of an FBI investigation into the Orange County Supervisor and Michelle Steel endorser, Steel’s spokesperson declined to answer the Orange County Register’s questions about Do, including if Steel had recently been in contact with him. Do and Steel have been allies for years, raising serious concerns about her judgment. Here are just a few examples of Steel and Do’s longstanding relationship, and effusive praise for Do over the years.
READ THE NPR LAIST REPORT HERE.
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Army Veteran Derek Tran is a DCCC Red To Blue candidate running in California’s 45th Congressional District which encompasses portions of Orange and Los Angeles Counties in Southern California. A majority-minority district, the District has the second largest AAPI population (36.97%) of any Congressional District, and the largest Vietnamese community in the country. President Biden won the current district lines by +6 points and it has a +6 point Democratic registration advantage. It includes all or part of the Cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, Cerritos, Buena Park, Placentia, Hawaiian Gardens, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Artesia, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Brea, Lakewood, and Fullerton, as well as the unincorporated community of Rossmoor.
Use of Derek Tran's military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Dept. of Defense or U.S. Army.