You wont find many examples more obvious than this, of how dems desperately fight to keep people on the government tit, in order to gain votes, and keep themselves in office. The funny thing about this one is not only are they making sure that the least productive people in society show up to the polls, to vote for more free government money, they are costing tax payers another 250k in order to bring them out.
Welfare voter push has GOP crying foul
Critics blast stateâs Dems for âinside jobâ
The state has mailed out voter registration letters to nearly 500,000 welfare recipients, in a push sparked by a group led by former ACORN bigwigs that critics say is a naked bid to boost Democrats at the polls in November.
The letters, mailed last month by the stateâs Department of Transitional Assistance, went out as Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren have been locked in a neck-and-neck race.
The welfare systemâs get-out-the-vote push came in response to a suit brought by New England United for Justice (NEU4J), which is led by three former leaders of the controversial Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. ACORN was disbanded in 2010 amid a voter fraud scandal.
The suit was filed after a 35-year-old Lowell woman recertified her benefits at a Lowell welfare office last June and âwas not offered the opportunity to register to vote at any time during her visit; nor was she offered a voter registration application,â according to papers filed in U.S. District Court.
NEU4J, along with the NAACP New England Area Conference, reached an agreement with the state on July 5 â just two months after the suit was filed.
The deal requires state officials to contact the 477,944 welfare recipients who were on the books between June 1, 2011 and May 31, 2012. The mailings will cost the state $275,844.
The state must also run public service announcements on TV and radio stations from mid-July through mid-October publicizing the agencyâs registration push. And welfare office waiting rooms, which will soon be equipped with TVs, must make announcements explaining how to register to vote.
The office of Secretary of State William Galvin, who was also named in the suit and declined to comment yesterday, must take part in three voter outreach activities in communities with a high concentration of welfare recipients.
âItâs a big election this year, and everyone deserves the opportunity to vote,â said Noemi Ramos of New England United for Justice, a former top ACORN official in the state.
Ramos said her members started conducting a statewide survey last summer, waiting outside welfare offices in cities such as Boston, Lynn, Worcester and Springfield. Canvassers asked families exiting the offices whether employees offered to register them, said Ramos.
State officials denied the aggressive voter outreach is a ploy to pad the Democratic voter rolls.
âI would refute any effort to portray this as a Democratic get-out-the-vote effort,â said Marilyn Chase, an assistant secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. âAnd Iâd reframe it as an intent on the part of a state agency to comply with whatâs mandated by federal law.â
John Feehery, a Washington, D.C.-based GOP consultant, scoffed at the claim.
âWhat a crock,â Feehery said. âSo the fix is in, huh? This is an inside job. The settlement seems like itâs a case of (Gov. Deval) Patrick finding a way to help his friends, Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren.â
NEU4J worked in concert with Demos, a liberal group leading a national charge to enroll welfare recipients. Demos â which was started in the 1990s and lists Barack Obama on its founding board of directors â has sued nine states, including the battlegrounds of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada, according to Demos lawyer Lisa Danetz.
Cases are still pending in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, which is fighting the suit. Settlements have been reached in Ohio, Missouri, New Mexico, Indiana and Georgia. Meanwhile, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado and Mississippi have all agreed to comply without being sued.
Welfare voter push has GOP crying foul
Critics blast stateâs Dems for âinside jobâ
The state has mailed out voter registration letters to nearly 500,000 welfare recipients, in a push sparked by a group led by former ACORN bigwigs that critics say is a naked bid to boost Democrats at the polls in November.
The letters, mailed last month by the stateâs Department of Transitional Assistance, went out as Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren have been locked in a neck-and-neck race.
The welfare systemâs get-out-the-vote push came in response to a suit brought by New England United for Justice (NEU4J), which is led by three former leaders of the controversial Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. ACORN was disbanded in 2010 amid a voter fraud scandal.
The suit was filed after a 35-year-old Lowell woman recertified her benefits at a Lowell welfare office last June and âwas not offered the opportunity to register to vote at any time during her visit; nor was she offered a voter registration application,â according to papers filed in U.S. District Court.
NEU4J, along with the NAACP New England Area Conference, reached an agreement with the state on July 5 â just two months after the suit was filed.
The deal requires state officials to contact the 477,944 welfare recipients who were on the books between June 1, 2011 and May 31, 2012. The mailings will cost the state $275,844.
The state must also run public service announcements on TV and radio stations from mid-July through mid-October publicizing the agencyâs registration push. And welfare office waiting rooms, which will soon be equipped with TVs, must make announcements explaining how to register to vote.
The office of Secretary of State William Galvin, who was also named in the suit and declined to comment yesterday, must take part in three voter outreach activities in communities with a high concentration of welfare recipients.
âItâs a big election this year, and everyone deserves the opportunity to vote,â said Noemi Ramos of New England United for Justice, a former top ACORN official in the state.
Ramos said her members started conducting a statewide survey last summer, waiting outside welfare offices in cities such as Boston, Lynn, Worcester and Springfield. Canvassers asked families exiting the offices whether employees offered to register them, said Ramos.
State officials denied the aggressive voter outreach is a ploy to pad the Democratic voter rolls.
âI would refute any effort to portray this as a Democratic get-out-the-vote effort,â said Marilyn Chase, an assistant secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. âAnd Iâd reframe it as an intent on the part of a state agency to comply with whatâs mandated by federal law.â
John Feehery, a Washington, D.C.-based GOP consultant, scoffed at the claim.
âWhat a crock,â Feehery said. âSo the fix is in, huh? This is an inside job. The settlement seems like itâs a case of (Gov. Deval) Patrick finding a way to help his friends, Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren.â
NEU4J worked in concert with Demos, a liberal group leading a national charge to enroll welfare recipients. Demos â which was started in the 1990s and lists Barack Obama on its founding board of directors â has sued nine states, including the battlegrounds of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada, according to Demos lawyer Lisa Danetz.
Cases are still pending in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, which is fighting the suit. Settlements have been reached in Ohio, Missouri, New Mexico, Indiana and Georgia. Meanwhile, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado and Mississippi have all agreed to comply without being sued.