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A Mayor Just Came Forward With A Plan For Welfare Recipients That Has Liberals Losing It
The Republican mayor of Lewiston, Maine says that the public has a right to know who is living off the public trough, and how much they are raking in.
Mayor Robert Macdonald also wants a firm 60-month cap on public benefits and a new law that will not increase benefits automatically after a new child is born to a family already on welfare.
“We’re just getting overwhelmed here,” he said. “I hope this makes people think twice about applying for welfare.”
Macdonald said he is tired of generational welfare recipients who move to Lewiston “to play the system” and that his proposals were created “basically to stop these people from coming here.”
Macdonald announced these proposals in a Thursday column in Lewiston’s Twin City Times. In the column, Macdonald bemoaned the fact that everyone on a state pension in Maine is publicly listed, “Yet other recipients of state revenues are shielded.”
“Yes, I am referring to those known as welfare recipients. Why are they treated differently than pensioners?” he wrote.
He then answers his own question:
“Our liberal, progressive legislators and their social-service allies have made them a victimized, protected class. It’s none of your business how much of your money they get and spend. Who are you to question it? Just shut up and pay!”
“Well, the days of being quiet are gone,” Macdonald wrote, saying he wanted a state law passed that would create a website listing every recipient’s name, address, time on assistance and amount received. “After all, the public has a right to know how its money is being spent.”
Although the proposal was met with criticism that it would shame assistance recipients, Macdonald is standing his ground.
“Go into a grocery store. They flaunt it,” he said. “I’m not sorry.”
The plan could help increase reports of welfare abuse, he said. “Then we can go after all these people who are gaming the system.”
Macdonald said he’s realistic about the chances of his website becoming a reality in the face of state and federal privacy rules.
“I’m not sure that it would stand up,” he said. “But, we’re always talking about transparency, and if we had a website like that, I think it would cut down a lot on welfare.”
h/t: Boston.com
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/a-mayor-just-came-forward-with-a-plan-for-welfare-recipients-that-has-liberals-losing-it/
Wonderful idea…. but doesn’t the government get kickbacks from welfare….. of which they shouldn’t. I would look into that avenue as well. Sounds like a really good mayor…. so few and far between. Wish you the best…. get the law passed.