“We never fail when we try to do our duty; we always fail when we neglect to do it.”

Robert Baden-Powell, British soldier

Because of the sloppy policies, the funds became a target for fraud. That included: $3.9 million for more than 1,000 dead people; more than $5 million for nearly 700 prisoners; $18.5 million to nearly 3,000 claimants with suspicious bank information; $45.8 million to more than 3,300 claimants with multiple indicators of fraud; and more than $100,000 for ineligible underage children.

Recent reports by state and municipal auditors explicitly detail how government bureaucracies failed us in accounting for tax dollars during the pandemic.

It’s well past time Coloradans are blunt with their government: When you spend and allocate public money for the greater good, it’s not acceptable to explain away fraud and waste as collateral damage — as some activists and apologists across the state are attempting to do in response to a new report from the Colorado state auditor. The findings released Monday detailed potentially more than $73 million in fraudulent unemployment benefits doled out from March 2020 through April 2021.

It’s just the latest — and one of the more alarming — COVID-era fault-finding audit reports. They reveal just how irresponsible some government agencies were during what some would argue was the kind of moment — an unprecedented global pandemic — when we need them most.

It wasn’t their finest hour. It was replete with some of their most embarrassing examples. That includes such waste as the more than $2 million paid in error as part of Colorado’s Property Owner Preservation program. It was an initiative hurriedly created at the peak of the pandemic with the idea of fronting money to landlords so tenants who couldn’t make rent weren’t evicted.

Then there’s Denver City and County Auditor Timothy O’Brien’s October announcement that Denver is acquiring park assets with new funding while not ensuring preexisting facilities are sufficiently maintained and hazards are quickly identified and corrected.

“When the public sees graffiti, human waste, drug paraphernalia, and unsafe conditions at parks, it’s reasonable for them to wonder where those tax dollars they approved went,” O’Brien said.

But those and other findings pale in comparison to the state’s losses to unemployment-insurance fraud. As reported by The Gazette, not only did the Department of Labor and Employment pay potentially up to $73.1 million in fraudulent claims during the first 14 months of the pandemic, but next to nothing was done to address the false claims — including recovering fraudulently awarded monies.

The audit specifies state and federal officials circumvented processes that would have better-enabled the state labor department to properly vet claims before issuing payments. The audit cited express executive action by Gov. Jared Polis in March 2020 and casual guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor.

As with what auditors found regarding the rent-relief program, Polis’ edict effectively determined that his labor department didn’t have the time necessary to verify a claimant’s employment situation. To make the situation even more susceptible to fraud, the administration suspended the department’s work provision for its benefits all while mandating claimants receive money within 10 days — much less than the typical 4-6 week turnaround.

Even more incredible, the cuddly named “CARES Act” at the federal level permitted a claimant to self-certify their unemployment eligibility.

Because of the sloppy policies, the funds became a target for fraud. That included: $3.9 million for more than 1,000 dead people; more than $5 million for nearly 700 prisoners; $18.5 million to nearly 3,000 claimants with suspicious bank information; $45.8 million to more than 3,300 claimants with multiple indicators of fraud; and more than $100,000 for ineligible underage children.

The audit found none of those claims were flagged by the department.

To make matters worse, the department wasn’t able to handle most requests that were flagged by a claimant for fraud help. The audit found that of 266,284 requests for assistance, 196,066 — three of four — had not been resolved by June.

So, the department was taking sips from a fire hose all while it lacked proper policies, procedures and processes. That resulted, the audit said, in: 95% of calls left unanswered at the pandemic’s peak; 40,000 individuals — at one point — calling more than 100 times per day trying to get aid: and one claimant with a fraud hold submitting 112 requests for assistance over a 46-day period.

This lack of effective processes meant the majority of assistance-seekers with holds placed on their benefits got little or no help. But the even bigger problem is this kind of slapdash, slipshod government waste further accelerates, creates and compounds the very economic hardships everyday Coloradans are feeling.

There’s insult to injury, too: Because the state’s unemployment trust fund is $1.01 billion in arrears through Oct. 29, the state had to tap federal loans to cover those shortages. Because government officials near and far contorted and distorted the traditional “timely, targeted and temporary” approach to government assistance, we all have to pay for the real-word ramifications.