Legal News

Fore! To Combat Crime, DOJ Chips $500K Grant to Golf Program

By Dan Slater

While one state is pulling funding for its juvenile delinquents’ legal representation, the feds are doling out $500,000 to combat juvenile crime in America. How? With golf.

That’s right. Compliments of Robert J. Flores, the administrator of the DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the World Golf Foundation’s First Tee Program is getting the cash infusion. “We need something really attractive to engage the gangs and the street kids,” said Flores, “golf is the hook.” He added: “I don’t know why people insist on denigrating it, it’s a sound program.”

The story, reported by ABC News’ Murray Waas, is rife with controversy. Apparently, DOJ staffers ranked the First Tee Program 47th on a list of 104 applicants for the grant. Current and former DOJ employees allege that Flores ignored the staff rankings in favor of programs that had political, social or religious connections to the Bush White House. Former President George Bush is the honorary chairman of the First Tee Program.

The golf program grant, according to ABC News, is one of a number of DOJ grants now coming under scrutiny by a Congressional committee which will hold hearings next week. A key witness will be a former employee of Flores’ office, Scott Peterson, who says the grants were awarded based more on politics than merit. “This is cronyism, this is waste, fraud and abuse,” Peterson told ABC News in an interview aired on Nightline Monday night.

But Flores, who was appointed to his position six years ago by President George W. Bush, defended his decisions as in the best overall interest of dealing with teen crime. He said he was never bound by his staff’s recommendations and that he made decisions based “on the overall” need in the country.

Peterson also told ABC that Flores holds daily prayer sessions in the DOJ offices and frowns on giving grant money to organizations that provide sex education or condoms to teenagers. Instead, said Peterson, Flores favors programs that promote sexual abstinence. Indeed, a Washington, D.C., program, Best Friends, that promotes abstinences was awarded $1.1 million by Flores even though it ranked 53rd on a list of 104 applicants.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 10, 2008 (boomark / email).