Monday, March 10, 2014

Does Walker Cabinet Official Get A Pass For False Testimony?

The Washington Post loosed its fact-checkers on a phony story Paul Ryan told at the recent CPAC conference to politick on the backs of poor people, so he's paid a price politically - - bad PR - - for being a heartless fraud.

But where are the consequences for Eloise Anderson, Scott Walker's Secretary of Health and Human Services, who spread the falsehood that Ryan heard Secretary Anderson speak as an expert witness before a Congressional hearing on the food stamp program which Ryan wants to cut:

The first thing we did was look for Eloise Anderson and stories about brown paper bags. We discovered a congressional hearing, held on July 31, 2013, and chaired by Ryan, that focused on the War on Poverty. Ryan asked Anderson, who appeared as an expert witness, what should be done to make the food stamp program, also known as SNAP, work better. 
Anderson responded: 
My thought has always been around the SNAP program even when it was called “food stamps” is, why do you have this program, school program, school breakfast, school lunch, school dinner, when do we start asking parents to be responsible for their children. 
You know, a little boy told me once that what was important to him is that he didn’t want school lunch, he wanted a brown bag because the brown bag that he brought with his lunch in it meant that his mom cared about him. Just think what we have done. If this kid tells me a brown bag was more important than a free lunch, we’ve missed the whole notion of parents being there for their children because we’ve taken over that responsibility, and I think we need to be very careful about how we provide programs to families that don’t undermine families’ responsibilities. 
Okay, so Anderson had testified about this boy, and claimed that she had spoken to him and realized that welfare programs were draining any sense of responsibility. 
As she put it, “If this kid tells me a brown bag was more important than a free lunch, we’ve missed the whole notion of parents being there for their children because we’ve taken over that responsibility.”
Is it good enough to send out a spokesman for Anderson with an apology for misspeaking, especially if it includes some inaccurate finger-pointing:
In the course of giving live testimony, Secretary Anderson misspoke.  What she had intended to say was the following: 
“Once I heard someone say, ‘what was important to him as a boy was that he didn’t want school lunch, he wanted a brown bag because the brown bag that he brought with his lunch in it meant that his mom cared about him.’” 
Secretary Anderson was referring to a television interview which she had seen with Maurice Mazyck. 
The Post continues:
It’s important to note that there is no discussion in the book about the school lunch program, and we could find no interview with Mazyck in which he said that. He simply repeats the story as told in the book, without any larger political context about federal programs to help hungry children. Moreover, this incident happened more than 25 years ago; Mazyck is no longer a boy but in his late 30s.
Which leads to more spin and finger-pointing by yet another spokesman, this time Ryan's:
Kevin Seifert, a spokesman for Ryan, said: “It’s unfortunate to learn that while testifying before the House Budget Committee, Secretary Anderson misspoke, but we appreciate her taking the time to share her insights.” After our inquiry, Ryan posted a notice on Facebook saying, “I regret failing to verify the original source of the story.”


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is a bigger point to be had here. The word "hungry" is widely misused to overglorify the government run programs. Hunger is hard to justify when the amount of perfectly fine uneaten FREE food is tossed in the garbage at every school.

Boxer said...

Sheeee. . . it! The ability to tell whoppers large and small is practically a job requirement. The assumption that whoppers will fly is well, assumed.

Bill Kurtz said...

Hey, anonymous, are you equally offended by tax cuts enriching people who already have more money than they'll ever need? It's the same principle.