The incompetence oozing from California’s elective bodies seems to know no bounds. California State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote a letter and report addressed to Governor Gavin Newsom and the Legislature that the Employment Development Department had sent out at least 38 million pieces of mail with EDD applicants and recipients Social Security numbers on them, heightening their risk of identity theft.

Sacramento’s Fox 2 KTVU reports that Howle said she believes the number could be even higher than that, and urged the EDD to stop the practice:

“EDD must take swift action to end its potentially harmful practice and better safeguard the identities of the residents it serves.”

Sorry, Elaine, that ship sailed a long time ago!

“Howle’s team said that her office told the EDD to stop mailing documents that had the Social Security numbers on them in March 2019, when they found that 13 million pieces of mail had people’s Social Security numbers on them.

“But as of yet, she said the agency has not yet removed the numbers from the most commonly mailed forms. The recent surge in unemployment claims as people are out of work during coronavirus, Howle said, ‘has further revealed the dangers of EDD’s practices.’ “

So we have our Governor dining at a pricey indoor restaurant with a crowd of his closest lobbyists during COVID-19 restrictions; we have five California Legislators sunning themselves in Maui during the same. And we have millions of Californians who have not even received an unemployment check from claims they filed back in March.

Sadly, that is not the end of it—the hits just keep on coming:

“Over the last eight months, people have reported receiving mail from EDD that is not addressed to them. For example, one person who had recently moved into a new home reported receiving more than 65 pieces of mail from EDD addressed to at least 15 different people. ‘Such mailings may be linked to attempts to fraudulently collect unemployment benefits,’ the audit found.”

With the @CA_EDD facing widespread fraud, state auditor said Thursday that the agency has sent 38 million pieces of mail containing social security numbers since the pandemic began, despite a recommendation last year that the practice stop because it could lead to identity theft.

— Patrick McGreevy (@mcgreevy99) November 19, 2020

“Howle added that she is also going to conduct an emergency audit of EDD’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including its backlog of unemployment claims, its call center performance, and the adequacy of its IT infrastructure, that she hopes to release early next year.”

Can’t wait to see what that unearths.

Governor Newsom: Get your head out of the French Laundry and do your job. https://t.co/xiY18tiFB9 @CA_EDD @CaUnemployed

— Jim Patterson (@JimPatterson559) November 19, 2020

KTVU sought comment from the EDD media office, but said they did not immediately respond to the criticism.

One of the architects of this mess, CA_EDD’s Secretary Julie Su is a contender for Labor Secretary in the Biden-Harris administration. Let that sink in.

Democrats: always failing up.