Pass the Buck Walker Strikes Again
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today that since Scott Walker has been Milwaukee County Executive, the county’s budget for administering its income assistance program has shrunk by about $1.7 million. The shrinking has not been done based on necessity because the number of people seeking food stamps has increased 10.5 percent during the same period. This lack of compassion has left far too many people out in the cold quite literally in many cases. For those that have been paying attention, we get the typical Walker response to his failure, passing the buck.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today that since Scott Walker has been Milwaukee County Executive, the county’s budget for administering its income assistance program has shrunk by about $1.7 million. The shrinking has not been done based on necessity because the number of people seeking food stamps has increased 10.5 percent during the same period. This lack of compassion has left far too many people out in the cold quite literally in many cases. For those that have been paying attention, we get the typical Walker response to his failure, passing the buck.
The story reports that about one million calls are attempted each month to the agency’s hotline, but less than 10 percent are answered. People seeking benefits in person often wait between 5 and 7 hours in the crowded office. Even though federal law requires that applications be processed within 30 days, Milwaukee County fails that requirement about 20 percent of the time. The story goes on to detail personal examples of waiting out in the cold for the office to open, spending an entire day there only to be called back to do it again the next day, and it even gives examples of people going without needed benefits.
Once again the Scott Walker Administration has dropped the ball, and unfortunately it has fallen on some of our most vulnerable. As has become typical with Walker, he proceeded to pass the buck for his own mismanagement. Whether it is a program to aid the poor, services for the mentally ill, county parks, or our crumbling transit system, Walker consistently finds a way to make matters worse. When he has been called out, he always finds a way to blame someone else for his own incompetence. It is high time that Walker start taking responsibility for his own policies and decisions, because this passing the buck game is getting old and its hurting real people in the process.