Monday, February 01, 2010
SC LT. GOV. BAUER IS IGNORANT AND "DON'T CARE"
According to Reporter Tim Smith of The Greenville News, "Records don't support Bauer's remarks on needy.
According to Reporter Tim Smith of The Greenville News, "Records don't support Bauer's remarks on needy.
For the readers' convenience, we have posted the entire text of Mr. Smith's article hereinbelow and highlighted what we consider to be the most shocking sections of the article--the ones that support our contention that South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is ignorant and "don't care."
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Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's comments that welfare programs in the state are out of control and recipients face no repercussions once enrolled largely don't square with the numbers, a review of state records shows.
People on welfare don't get rewarded for having babies, the number of those receiving benefits has declined dramatically and South Carolina welfare recipients face some of the toughest limitations in the nation, according to records of the state Department of Social Services.
Bauer ignited controversy when he drew comparisons between people receiving government assistance and "stray animals" during a recent appearance at a Fountain Inn town hall meeting.
The lieutenant governor later said he could have chosen a better "metaphor," though he stood behind his basic position that more needs to be done to break the cycle of government dependency.
The Greenville News checked Bauer's speech and statements on government aid against available records and information about government programs operating in South Carolina to separate fact from political myth.
Some of his assertions were correct, such as the number of voters now outnumbering the number of workers in the state. However, other statements appeared tied to the welfare programs of the 1980s and early 1990s that were overhauled in a 1996 federal reform effort.
"A lot of what was said was somewhat true prior to welfare reform," said Linda Martin, state director of DSS welfare, food stamps and child-care programs. "But we have worked really hard to change the program and I think we really have."
Records show the state's primary welfare program rolls are less than half the number they were before federal welfare reform.
Bauer issued a two-sentence statement defending his position.
"While reform efforts of the early '90s were a good start, they were only mildly effective and frankly, we still have a cycle of dependency," he said. "There are numerous public assistance programs and some of them hurt as much as they help."
Bauer's most controversial passage in the speech used a metaphor to address the issue of government dependency.
"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," he said. "You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."
Bauer later said he did not regret his comments at the town hall meeting but said "maybe the 'stray animals' wasn't the best metaphor."
Bauer's major argument, then and since, is that dependency on government benefit programs needs to be addressed. In the speech, he suggested that parents of children participating in free or reduced-price meal programs at school be required to attend PTA meetings and parent-teacher conferences.
"Look, folks, if you receive goods or services from the government and you don't attend a parent-teacher conference, bam, you lose your benefits," Bauer told the crowd of about 115.
In 1995, the last full year before reform, the state had 50,025 welfare cases. That number declined to a low of 14,313 cases in 2007 and has since risen to 20,648 with the recession, according to DSS records.
The amount spent on welfare also is a small fraction of the state's budget. The annual cost of the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, what most people think of as welfare, is about $38 million for the state, $32 million in various support services offered by state agencies and $6 million in direct welfare aid.
The federal government pays $44 million for the program, Martin said. The $38 million amounts to less than 1 percent of the state's $5 billion General Fund budget, most of which is spent on K-12 education and Medicaid.
The numbers of people on food stamps, welfare and subsidized school meals have increased in recent years, officials say. Statewide, 58 percent of students participate in the free and reduced-price school meal program, up from 54 percent two years ago.
But the increases, they say, are due to a recession and a record 12.6 percent unemployment rate that has left nearly 300,000 people in the state without jobs and ranks as the fourth-highest jobless rate in the nation.
Bauer noted in his speech that schools in which high numbers of students participate in the Free and Reduced Meals Program also have the worst test scores.
True enough, said Jim Foster, spokesman for the state Department of Education, who said there is a direct correlation between schools with the poorest students and schools with the poorest scores. But he said the problem is chiefly one of parents of poor students who are uneducated, not that most do not care about what their children do in school.
Debbie Elmore, spokeswoman for the South Carolina School Boards Association, said the issue is far more complicated than requiring drug tests and meeting attendance for parents.
"I don't think it's as simple as pointing to one thing," she said. "It's not just parental participation. It's a lot of things."
The amount of instruction time, the quality of teachers and leaders at the school, attendance by students, the health of students and after-school instruction are among the factors that determine a school's success where most of the students come from a background of poverty, she said.
Bauer said in his speech that fixing the problem of poor students' low scores is one of holding parents more accountable for their benefits and fixing the system so that recipients can't take advantage of it.
"We are a compassionate people, and we will always take care of those who are truly needy, as we should," he said in a statement posted on his campaign blog. "But there are also those who are not truly needy, merely lazy or greedy, who are taking advantage of the system. And, unfortunately, the system is actually designed to encourage them to take advantage of it."
In his speech, Bauer said much the same thing. Right now, he argued, "If you receive goods and services from the government, there are no repercussions."
Not true, according to DSS welfare requirements.
Those receiving benefits can only receive them for two years during any 10-year stretch. Able-bodied recipients must work or be in job training at least 30 hours per week or their benefits stop. Parents are asked to attend school meetings, help with homework and request help if their children are having school difficulties.
Recipients who are identified with alcohol or drugs are ineligible for benefits, unless they agree to participate in a treatment program and make good progress in the program.
South Carolina provides one of the lowest assistance checks in the nation, according to DSS. A mother of two children receives a maximum of $271 per month to pay for rent, utilities, clothing and all other needs except food.
Labels: Welfare Reform
