My disabled veteran son received notification that he would not receive his SNAP benefits (food stamps) and his case would close through no fault of his. The State is backlogged and cannot keep up with the paperwork and that is their pathetic excuse and this is not the first time this has happened either. This spit out “idiot” letter from the State readily admits: “Its not your fault, its ours, but that’s the way it is” in so many words. I called up my son’s worker and left a message demanding to know why this is happening and its a sad commentary for our state that disabled, poor people are being treated like this. My son’s case worker called to tell me that the head of the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) is hiring people that don’t know what they are doing and immediately slapping them into Supervisory positions. She also stated these new hires are incompetent, deny needful people their SNAP benefits although all the appropriate paperwork is already in, then close out cases just to get their caseloads lightened. The case worker stated things are going to get worse because they are going to institute a callup number not associated with case workers to check on benefits and the wait times will be significant. I have my suspicions that people are being hired and thrust into their jobs, without actual vetting of their qualifications, because there will be a new Governor coming in and friends are being implaced in state jobs before that happens. I told the case worker the situation will become intolerable if Charlie Baker is elected Governor as he has a history of throwing deserving people off their benefits under former Governor Bill Weld and she readily agreed. She invited me to call Governor Deval Patrick to expose this terrible problem which I did and she also stated I might want to contact my local representatives to get on this matter and correct it.
So I am formally and publicly bringing this to the attention of Representative Velis and Senator Humason to get to the bottom of this crisis before it gets out of hand. When disabled veterans and civilians, poor people, and senior citizens are denied their rights to SNAP benefits, this is where you politicians, as our representatives who we voted in, must act decisively to alleviate the existing and possible future problem. So do so. Thank you. Dear PulseLine, I am sorry to hear that the Department of Transitional Assistance is not helping your son with his application for benefits. Unfortunately, I am not surprised. Under the Patrick Administration the oversight of the Health & Human Service agencies like DTA has been sorely lacking. I am glad you called Governor Patrick’s office. They need to hear from Massachusetts residents who are unhappy with the poor customer service. I would be very happy to contact the Department of Transitional Assistance for you and your son. Perhaps they will listen to me. My district office number is 413-568-1366. If I am not in when you call just leave me your contact information on my machine or speak with Andrew Renfro, my Constituent Services staff member. Thank you. – Senator Don Humason
Nothing pains me more than to see disabled veterans being turned away by the system. I will go to any length to make sure the right people are getting the benefits they deserve. We need to do what we can to make government more efficient. We need to hold government employees accountable in the same way they are held accountable in the private sector. If there is anything I can do to help my fellow service member, please call me directly on my cell phone at 413-627-8722. – Representative John Velis
