Leaked emails suggest Colorado state employees plotted to give illegal immigrants unemployment benefits | Washington Examiner

Leaked emails suggest Colorado state employees plotted to give illegal immigrants unemployment benefits
By: Mark Hemingway
Commentary Staff Writer
08/05/10 2:05 PM EDT

Colorado’s Independence Institute may have uncovered a big scandal:

“Independence Investigates” has obtained internal emails from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) showing that a software control intended to prevent the payment of unemployment insurance to unqualified citizens as well as to illegal aliens was shut off in early 2009.

The emails dictate that former CDLE unemployment insurance director Mike Cullen demanded “Work Order 51662” be given top priority within the department. Completion of the work order would mean various questions asked of someone filing for unemployment regarding citizenship would effectively be ignored by a computer system.

What’s more, according to the emails, employees appear to have piped up and expressed concern about the legality of what they were doing:

In one email, an IT technician says, “This seems to be a super fast slam dunk. Do we need anything in writing from [uninsurance director] Mike Cullen as this seems to be a violation of the law (HB-1023)?”

Another email from a different IT technician predicted media fallout, saying, “…this ain’t all so hard to do, BUT we will effectively disabling the legislatures HB-1023 which is now state law. When Channel 4 news finds out, lots of people will be pointing finders [sic] and saying, ‘it wasn’t me.’”

Interesingly enough, Mike Cullen, who was responsible for this questionable directive, now works for a private software company that has contracts with the state to combat unemployment fraud. There’s a lot more at the link — expect some political fallout when this hits the news in the Centennial State.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/leaked-emails-suggest-colorado-state-employees-plotted-to-give-illegal-immigrants-unemployment-benefits-100048959.html#ixzz0vragjeeJ