Vermont auditor: MIT economist Gruber may have padded bills

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DAVE GRAM

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A Massachusetts Institute of Technology health economist who made national headlines last year for talking about "the stupidity of the American voter" was a target Monday in a report from the Vermont state auditor saying the economist may have padded his bills to the state.

Auditor of Accounts Douglas Hoffer said he referred his findings on Jonathan Gruber and his contract with the state to Attorney General William Sorrell. Hoffer said Gruber's invoices billed Vermont $100 per hour for the work of a research assistant — 1,000 hours in 10 weeks.

"To do so, the RA would have worked exclusively on this project for more than 14 hours per day — every day," the auditor said. "The evidence suggests that Dr. Gruber overstated the hours worked by the RA and that the Agency of Administration ignored the obvious signs that something was amiss."

The attorney general said in an interview that Hoffer raised "serious questions."

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/eb5bdab4ca7f41ccba5d919d0a53f221/vermont-auditor-mit-economist-gruber-may-have-padded-bills

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Auditor of Accounts Douglas Hoffer must be smarter than the American voter.

[TrollBuster9090]

1. Gruber should never be given another government contract, and should spend the next six months

being audited by both the Vermont and Federal Governments to look for irregularities.

And no, NOT because he MIGHT have padded his expenses by a few percent here and there. Every private contractor I've ever had, from the guy who fixes my toilet to the guy who does my taxes does that. But because he was so incredibly stupid as to provide a red herring talking point for the GOP to tear down an improvement (however small) to the American healthcare 'system.'

I'll let Cummings say it FOR me...