It’s bad to punish them

If you want folks to stay under your control

Despite law, Colorado doesn’t block welfare withdrawals at liquor stores, casinos

For nearly two decades, Colorado law has prohibited the use of welfare cards at casinos and liquor store ATMs, and in 2012 federal law also required states to have policies prohibiting the withdrawals. But in the past two years at least $489,000 in taxpayer money has been withdrawn in exactly those Colorado locations, Watchdog.org found.

The Colorado Department of Human Services, which manages the program, knows about the withdrawals but hasn’t punished recipients who violate the law or blocked the use of cards at casino and liquor store ATMs.

…..

State Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, said CDHS needs to enforce the laws.

“They are thumbing their nose at Colorado citizens who pay taxes,” he said. “They say, ‘We aren’t going to enforce it and make sure the cards are used for intended purpose — to make sure there is food on the table.’”

Levetta Love, director of the CDHS Office of Economic Security, said the department recently wrote rules for the federal government on how to stem the prohibited withdrawals and have contacted — though not punished — people who used the cards in prohibited locations. Welfare recipients must agree not to use the card at casinos and liquor stores when they receive the cards, she said.

“No one lost benefits at this time,” she said. “The number of recipients accessing benefits in these locations is statistically insignificant.”

When $500K worth of taxpayer dollars is “statistically insignificant” there is something wrong.

I, too, can think of something that is statistically insignificant: Her job.