Campaign Log: Welfare, Welfare

THEY FELT HARASSED RIGHT OUT OF FOOD STAMPS

Here's a couple that had their fill of Food Stamps. They felt so harassed, they took the final stamps right back, and told the administrators they didn't want them.

Now, this was 25 years ago, so supposing they were ill treated, I would guess things have changed.

I ran into the wife while knocking doors in Draper, west of I-15. She spoke of administrators threatening to sue (perhaps she meant charge them with welfare fraud) if paperwork wasn't filled out perfectly. She said they got the year of their Ford vehicle inverted, having it as an '86 instead of what it was, a '68. "They were very adversarial," she said. Finally, the lady took the latest issue of Food Stamps back, telling the administrators, "Take us off the list. I don't care if we qualify or not. . . . They made it very hard on us. They made it very miserable. So, I just said, Keep 'em."

I walked away from that door not knowing what to make of it. You want administrators to watch for fraud, but were they just being difficult?


40 HOURS REQUIRED FOR TANF PARTICIPANTS

Later, but while working on the same side of I-15, I ran into the qualifications director of the Food Stamp program.

. . . And I didn't think to ask her about the lady above. Don't believe it would have done much good even if I had, though, as she surely wasn't the director, or even with Workforce Services, 25 years ago.

I did ask if she thought there should be any changes in the programs. She noted they continuously review how the programs are run, but she didn't vocalize any changes she would make if she could change the programs she administers. "It is all done at the federal level (Medicaid and Food Stamps)," she said.

I do know some social assistance programs can be altered at the state level, though, including Unemployment Insurance.

She spoke also spoke of the program often as not referred to as government welfare, TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), noting participants need to put 40 hours each week into it, searching for jobs, preparing resumes, and such.