The Sacramento Bee, Calif., Marcos Breton Column: Marcos Breton: DA Out to Pry Funding From First 5 for Abused Kids' Medical Exams

She has to find the money to pay for justice. 
The county has no funds to pay for medical exams of children removed from their homes by Child Protective Services. 
In the last fiscal year o in cases involving 829 kids under the age of 6 removed from their homes for reasons other than physical abuse o examinations performed at UC Davis Medical Center found physical abuse 55 percent of the time. 
And in cases where kids were removed due to allegations of physical abuse, 20 percent of their siblings also were found to show signs of physical abuse. 
God bless the children. 
The county's cost for the screenings is about $133,000. 
You would think someone could find the money. But it won't happen without another performance of the elaborate funding dance of Sacramento government. 
It's so old by now. Haven't we all become numb to predictions of the apocalypse if this or that government program is eliminated? 
But Scully, who has been in office since 1994, is nothing if not shrewd. She knows there are millions of dollars sitting around unused in Sacramento while government safety nets dissolve. 
Let's repeat: There are millions of untapped dollars while local governments are melting down. A reserve of roughly $70 million is controlled by the First 5 Sacramento Commission. 
The commission is made up of local bureaucrats headed by county Supervisor Roger Dickinson. They control the local share of statewide tobacco tax money used to fund education, health, child care and other programs for expectant parents and children up to age 5. This tax was approved by California voters in 1998 when they passed Proposition 10, the brainchild of film director Rob Reiner. 
But like other do-gooder taxes, millions in First 5 money accumulates like bills in the bank vaults of celebrities. On Monday, Scully is going to ask First 5 Sacramento to peel off a sliver of its stockpile to fund CPS medical examinations for abused kids. 
"The screenings fit right into their mission statement of commitment," Scully said. 
Why not? In June, First 5 allocated $5,000 for monthly water play-dates and children's dance at Southside Park. They subsidized a block party, an ice cream social, a park play day and a movie night in east Sacramento for $4,000. 
In January, Republican lawmakers took aim at First 5 for funding belly dance classes for pregnant women in San Diego. 
Scully has a point: "We haven't asked First 5 to be accountable." 
It starts Monday, at a First 5 meeting scheduled for 12:30 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors chambers. 
These meetings are often held in obscurity. It's time to shine a bright light on all that First 5 money and how it's being spent o or not o amid so much need.