Let them eat Republican excuses

Let's see...a Republican is president, the House and Senate majority is Republican, and the controlling party in Idaho is Republican. So when 13,000 Idahoans are shafted of the foodstamps necessary to help keep body and soul together, who needs to shoulder the blame?

Must be the fault of those damn Democrats, somehow...

Error Distributing Idaho Food Stamps

Thousands of families went without food stamps last year. Why? Legislative auditors say the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare messed up. It's a problem that may cost the State of Idaho $1-million in federal matching funds. Jeremy Couch talked with local health and welfare employees today. They say they are aware of the problem, but they're not the only ones to blame.

According to legislative auditors, over 13,000 Idahoans should have been given food stamps last year, but they were denied, while others received too much. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's margin of error for food stamps is currently at 15% — double the national average. Area Supervisor Terry Higbee is aware of the problem.

"The error rate is totally unacceptable to us. We know we've got a problem, we've known we got a problem."

Higbee believes the errors are a result of cuts in funding and employees.

"From 1998 to this date, we've lost approximately 60 people statewide that were servicing families in Idaho. And when we lost the positions, it was due to poor economy and the lawmakers making some decisions we needed to tighten our belt."

A state government is like a machine — it needs enough parts inside to keep everything running smoothly. You start arbitrarily yanking out a piece here, knocking out some parts there, and pretty soon things start sputtering, smoking and grinding to a halt. Unfortunately, our Republican-controlled government is to a garage mechanic as the Three Stooges are to brain surgeons.

Anybody got the number for a good towing service?