‘It’s going to take the feds’: Center Square reporter says AG won’t investigate alleged daycare fraud because DCYF is ‘his client’

Center Square reporter Carleen Johnson has been investigating possible daycare fraud through the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) following a similar case in Minnesota that drew national attention.

Johnson recently visited nearly three dozen daycare centers in the Seattle area and found several that had few, if any, children. She also found at least one facility that received hundreds of thousands of dollars despite residents indicating it was not a daycare.

Johnson told “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio that she took the issue to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, and was told Attorney General Nick Brown wouldn’t look into it.

“He said that’s his client, DCYF, and they won’t investigate,” Johnson said. “That’s what I was told to my face.”

She explained the AG’s Office has to represent DCYF and, in her view, make the agency look good, so it wouldn’t divulge any details.

“When we’re coming after them and seeking information, that’s a problem. So he has to represent them, and cannot tell us,” she said. “He wouldn’t even tell us that they’re investigating, if they are investigating, and it’s hidden under the guise of, ‘That’s our client.’ He’s also supposed to represent us.”

“We are the client,” KIRO host John Curley responded. “We pay for every one of those lawyers. We are the client. They are subject to us as the people, and they govern for us. That part of that DCYF is also ours. We pay for all of that. Everything falls under us.”

Center Square reporter confident feds will investigate alleged daycare fraud

Johnson said she’s confident the federal government is paying attention to what’s happening in Washington. She added that people have been emailing her about their own independent investigations and sending their findings to the federal government.

“They have it. It’s there. I know it’s mounting, and I am confident that the administration is going to come down,” she said. “Because I do not hold out any confidence at this point that anyone in Washington state government, any agency head, has any intention of being serious about cracking down on this. It’s going to take the feds. It’s not going to happen at the state level. Regardless of all the Republicans who want to, they don’t have the power to do it.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jcurleyshow