Advocate: LePage broke law by telling newspaper that Fazeli received welfare

[jpak]

Source: Bangor Daily News

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage has pounced on the recent unsealing of court documents showing an Iranian refugee who resettled in Maine and later joined the terror group ISIS.

But the governor’s eagerness to use Adnan Fazeli’s radicalization here to rail against welfare benefits for refugees may have led him to run afoul of a federal law designed to protect the identities of welfare recipients and their families.

State officials have not confirmed that Fazeli, or his family, received welfare benefits when he lived in Maine between 2009 and 2013. According to federal laws governing food stamps and cash assistance, they’re not supposed to.

“It’s concerning if that was indeed reported by Maine officials because federal law is clear that people’s confidentiality should be protected,” said Robyn Merrill, director for Maine Equal Justice Partners, an advocacy group for low-income Mainers.

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Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2016/08/19/politics/advocate-lepage-broke-law-by-telling-newspaper-that-fazeli-received-welfare/

[Blue_Adept]

1. You know LePage doesn't believe that Fazeli is "people"

Terrorists aren't people in his mind.

[Mc Mike]

2. LePage is Maine's answer to Joe Arpaio. If Paladino gained a little weight, they'd be triplets.r,nt

[leftynyc]

3. I doubt people will care about

lepage (asshole) breaking that law when the larger point is something we need to confront. We need to be prepared to answer that question - why should refugees get welfare when we have American citizens who need help. Sorry, folks, that's a legitimate question.

[strategery blunder]

4. That question has nothing to do with breaking client confidentiality, which is what LePage did.

I am NOT a government official, and even I know that publicly exposing the identity of a welfare recipient (or participant in any government program) in an official capacity is highly illegal!

The only question that is relevant to LePage's actions is this: When will he be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

[leftynyc]

6. Probably not

But the larger question is something we need to be able to answer.

[catnhatnh]

5. The hell it is

you give refugees assistance because they are refugees. In my opinion there is no larger point then this-powerful people need to be held to an accounting for a crime that is harsher than that given to a crack whore.

[leftynyc]

7. If you don't want to face

what the POLITICAL reality of this is, I really can't help you.

[LanternWaste]

10. "Political reality" is subjective and open to interpretation

"Political reality" is subjective and open to interpretation, hence it's not reality at all but merely branding.

Branding can be re-branded, and interpretation can be adjusted, regardless of the sincerity of your help offered or denied...

[arithia]

8. because we agreed as a country to help refugees some time ago

We kinda ratified bills and treaties saying we would. We are upholding our obligations as a country. These people are fleeing for their lives- more often than not they are uneducated and poor and unable to wait time/money wise to follow standard immigration procedures.... which are also horribly broken.

As an American citizen who survives off these programs (I am disabled) I can assure you- they aren't funded enough and the process of signing up for benefits is rigged to drop applicants. You are asked to jump through a never ending series of hoops to prove you are poor enough or disabled enough for whatever agent you are working with's liking. And yes, it really IS that arbitrary- I have camped out at the Medicaid office for days on end, shuffling through agents to get to a supervisor who will actually do their job.

Perhaps, just perhaps, we as Americans stop stigmatizing these programs and stop putting unreasonable barriers up to access them. Maybe we can properly fund them so people aren't scrambling to fill limited slots in programs, too. That, in my opinion, would be more beneficial to disabled/disadvantaged Americans than worrying about the handful of poor refugees who manage to prove they are here legally and too sick/disadvantaged to break the poverty line.

The system is broken and the refugees aren't to blame. I've spent years of my life proving I was the "right" kind of needy for assistance and let me tell you, it's pretty f*cking degrading and stupid. I'm lucky enough to have years of medical documentation, doctors willing to yell on my behalf and citizenship on my side. Most aren't so fortunate.

[leftynyc]

11. Yours is exactly the kind of story

that is part of the problem. If we're having such difficulties taking care of our own, it's madness to insist we take in thousands of others. I know the refugees aren't to blame. I'm thinking about how this can be explained in a soundbite or an ad because the opposition is going to KILL us on this. We have a city that is drowning right now - how can we explain the need to help others?

[arithia]

12. Sociology rarely gets explained in a short soundbite

But if I had to do it- Grow the pie. Arguing over who gets what crumb ignores the reality of the average portion size and needlessly pits people against each other.

These programs are intentionally kept underfunded (and republicans keep cutting them) due to the prevailing ignorant belief that people on these programs are lazy. That they need to be "encouraged" to work, to get off their lazy bums. This completely ignores the reality of the working poor. It also ignores the reality of medical need. Even those of us who are permanently disabled from childhood have to prove it on a regular basis, like our genetic codes are going to magically right themselves overnight. As a friend of mine once joked "Oh, my organs grew back and I don't need to pee in a bag anymore? Thanks for letting me know, medicaid!"

We have to prove we are the right kind of needy, pitiable enough to warrant help from our oh-so-benevolent society, over and over and over again. Despite the fact that people on public assistance have a rate of drug use that is practically within the margin of error for those tests, politicians keep pushing for drug testing laws as another hurdle to access. They are further proof of the stigma Americans have against people on these programs.

Do you know how long it takes to get Social Security Disability? On average, over 2 years. You are told to expect your first application to be rejected. When I got mine, my rep told me about a farmer who lost both arms and legs in a thresher accident who was declined on his initial app. It took me over 10 years to get medicaid after I got my SSDI in part because one of our governor's administrations quite literally instructed the office to drop applicants so he could "fix" the budget. I was told under another administration that my SSDI was "too much income" for Medicaid and if I wanted the benefits mandated to me by law, I would have to drop my health insurance (and get a smaller check every month) and go on SSI.

All I can think of is for people like me to tell their story and say "refugees aren't the problem. Prejudice is." When you are used to fighting for the smallest of scraps, you don't get mad at the other people in the same situation. You get mad at the @ssholes trying to make you fight over scraps in the first place.

[hamsterjill]

9. Yes, that is a legitimate question.

n/t