Leave it to a liberal state like Washington to pull this moronic porkulus stunt

Oh. For. Crying. Out. Loud. From Washington state, here’s your moronic stimulus stunt of the day:

OLYMPIA, Wash. —

The state of Washington sent out $1 checks to the 250,000 food stamp recipients in the state.

The director of the Community Services Division for the Department of Social and Health Services, Leo Ribas, says the checks mailed Feb. 17 trigger an additional $43 million in federal food benefits. They also connect recipients to an energy assistance program.

Ribas says the $1 check is a one-time move to leverage the federal money. He says next year the state will be able to trigger the federal assistance through a routine deposit in food stamp accounts.

A commenter notes: “Well bulk rate is about 26 cents. Envelop another 5-10 cents. Plus printing at 5-10 cents a copy. Plus handling. I’m sure [the cost to send the checks] was as much if not more then the food stamps.”

Amber Gunn of EFF/Washington adds: “To top it off, a lot of recipients of these checks do not have bank accounts so the fee to cash the check is greater than the check itself (usually $2 to $5). Genius.”

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On a related note, Kentucky talk show host Leland Conway (who organized the pork rind drive from Sen. Schmucky Schumer) sends along these $8 Obama bills symbolizing the $8/week stimulus tax break. Washington rammed the trillion-dollar Generational Theft Act down our throats and all we got were these lousy bills…

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February 23, 2009 · Filed Under Uncategorized


Comments

  • Kelly

    How ironic. This happened in Tri-Cities, which is a Republican city. This decision was made by the local government of that town and not by the state. Which is evident if you read the original source (Tri-City Herald). If you really are hard pressed enough that you have to manipulate facts to make your point, maybe your point doesn’t need to be made? And BTW, the citizens of Washington state outside of the Seattle city limits all take offense to you incorrectly labeling them “liberal.” But I guess thirty seconds of research on wikipedia would have been too much. Feel free to note the annoyed sarcasm I inserted there.

  • sara

    It definitely sounds weird but the recipients qualify for the Washington Telephone Assistance Program. This program can give 50% off phone connection service, waive the local deposit and give monthly discounts for telephone service. Wacky as it is, the $1 could save the recipients hundreds of dollars a year. Long term, the state will receive more $ to distribute later. Also, you don’t even have to cash the check to receive the benefits. When times are tough, you take what you can get.