Off the Record

■ The poor ye shall always have with you, the Good Book says, and the Legal Services Corporation is happy to keep it that way. Originally set up to provide legal help to the indigent— e.g., getting child support for poor mothers—over the years it degenerated into a political front for all manner of left-wing causes. LSC money (that’s taxpayer money) was involved, for example, in the case in which the New York Court of Appeals called the family a “fictitious distinction” and ruled that gay partners had as much right as spouses to inherit rent-controlled apartments. LSC has also been in the vanguard of expanding entitlement eligibility, achieving through the courts what the Left could never have got through Congress.

During the Reagan era an effort was made to curb LSC’s enthusiasm for such lobbying by appointing conservative members to its governing board, who among other things have pushed for holding LSC accountable to the same waste, fraud, and abuse statutes that apply to every other government agency. Earlier this year an amendment to this effect almost squeaked through Congress (it was defeated 206 to 199). With a conservative board firmly in place there is a good chance it might pass next time.

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■ The poor ye shall always have with you, the Good Book says, and the Legal Services Corporation is happy to keep it that way. Originally set up to provide legal help to the indigent— e.g., getting child support for poor mothers—over the years it degenerated into a political front for all manner of left-wing causes. LSC money (that’s taxpayer money) was involved, for example, in the case in which the New York Court of Appeals called the family a “fictitious distinction” and ruled that gay partners had as much right as spouses to inherit rent-controlled apartments. LSC has also been in the vanguard of expanding entitlement eligibility, achieving through the courts what the Left could never have got through Congress.

During the Reagan era an effort was made to curb LSC’s enthusiasm for such lobbying by appointing conservative members to its governing board, who among other things have pushed for holding LSC accountable to the same waste, fraud, and abuse statutes that apply to every other government agency. Earlier this year an amendment to this effect almost squeaked through Congress (it was defeated 206 to 199). With a conservative board firmly in place there is a good chance it might pass next time.