To the editor:
The Maine DHHS, Mary Mayhew Commissioner, has finally found the perfect crime. Extort money from people who would rather not come forward because they are in the SNAP program, i.e. Food Stamps, which is perhaps not the highlight of their life.
Because of overpayments, caused by a snafu in the DHHS computer system in Augusta, over 3,000 people will have their Social Security checks garnished by 15 percent per month until what they owe is paid back. It all goes back to the old adage of how can you relate to a hungry person when your belly is full? Well evidently, the Maine DHHS can’t either.
Many of the people live from paycheck to paycheck and the DHHS Commissioner knows this, yet insists on collecting this money which could have been taken care of easily when one considers the DHHS budget in Maine. Many of the people affected will have surprise bills of over a thousand dollars. Where will this money come from? From necessities like food, medicine and housing.
The DHHS of Maine, Mary Mayhew, Commissioner’s decision to stick it to the most vulnerable people in Maine reminds me of Shakespeare’s last couplet in Sonnet No. 94 “For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worst than weeds.”
As a former State Representative I think it is one of the most inconsiderate acts I have seen coming out of Augusta. I hope local people will call the Commissioner at 287-4223 and protest this egregious decision.
