Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Barr sharpening ax on legal aid to poor
Melanie Eversley - Cox Washington Bureau Saturday, March 23,
2002
Washington --- The organization that pays for legal
representation for the poor could be in trouble. Bob Barr, the
conservative Republican congressman from Georgia, is asking
questions about the Legal Services Corp.
Barr thinks the private, Washington-based non-profit
organization, which pays local groups to represent the poor, is not
doing business the way it should. He has asked the General
Accounting Office to conduct a probe.
"We want to know why there's no peer accounting system, why
there's no real method of competition for grants, and why meetings
are held in secret," Barr said.
The congressman heads the House Judiciary subcommittee on
commercial and administrative law, which oversees the Legal
Services Corporation. Legal Services is funded by Congress through
an annual appropriation: $329.3 million for fiscal 2002. In
Georgia, the organization channels funds to the Georgia Legal
Services Program and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society.
Since 1994, when Republicans took over as the majority party in
the Congress, GOP members have charged that the LSC takes part in
political activities. Edwin Meese, attorney general under President
Reagan, is among critics who have pointed out that Congress
demanded in 1996 that the organization not do so.
LSC President John Erlenborn recently testified to Congress that
the organization had instituted an oversight system run by 12
lawyers and other employees to ensure that its programs do not
violate the rule.
"LSC has made every effort to ensure that the congressional
restrictions placed on grantees are strictly observed," Erlenborn
said.
"We pledge to continue working with this committee to improve
the civil justice delivery system in America," he said, "and to
ensure federal dollars allocated for legal services are being spent
in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible."
Erlenborn said that Congress had stipulated that LSC-funded
programs are forbidden from filing or litigating class-action
lawsuits, engaging in lobbying, litigating on behalf of prisoners,
or representing most undocumented immigrants.
Critics say that the LSC-funded organizations tend to defend
people involved in leftist causes.
"Unfortunately, the Legal Services Corp. that's in existence now
is dedicated to political activism and leftist causes, and,
sometimes, the representation of the poor," said Todd Gaziano,
senior fellow in legal studies at the Washington-based Heritage
Foundation.
Gaziano is working with Meese in opposing the LSC.
"The representation of the poor is kind of low down on their
list of priorities," Gaziano said.
"The current Clinton-appointed board has thumbed its nose at
congressional attempts to focus the Legal Services Corp. on its
mission of helping indigent litigants in certain types of
proceedings."
A House Democratic staffer close to the case said that GAO
studies in the past have proved that LSC is complying fully with
the congressional stipulations.
The Legal Services Corp. came about in 1974 under President
Richard Nixon. It is run by an 11member board appointed by the
president and confirmed by the Senate. No more than six members of
the bipartisan board can be from any one political party.
President Bush is expected to name new board members soon, and
Barr said he would like to have an effect on those appointments. He
said this week that he had sent a letter to the White House
spelling out his questions about the organization.
"I'm not a fan of spending taxpayer dollars on the Legal
Services Corp.," Barr said. "It could run on private contributions
and, if a state believes it ought to be involved, then through
state funds."
But Barr also said: "I don't think its realistic that we're
going to be able to zero it out. Therefore, we should at least make
it operate within the bounds of the law."