ANDERSON — An Indiana attorney representing a class of welfare recipients is claiming to have been the victim of wrongful accusations by a state welfare official.

LaPorte attorney Shaw Friedman is representing eight Medicaid and food stamp recipients who are hoping to block the rollout of a privatized welfare system in northwest Indiana.

Friedman said Family and Social Services Administration secretary Mitch Roob lied on Tuesday in comments to the press about Friedman’s financial interest in the rollout.

Roob is named in the suit along with Gov. Mitch Daniels and Zach Main of FSSA.

On Tuesday, Roob called the lawsuit “baseless” and alleged that Friedman had a financial interest in blocking the rollout.

In an Aug. 26 article in the Indianapolis Star newspaper, Roob claimed that Friedman stood to lose money if the rollout took place because the attorney’s father was the lessor for the LaPorte county FSSA office.

If FSSA rolled out its modernization effort into northwest Indiana, the office could possibly be moved, resulting in a loss of revenue for the lessor.

Roob also alleged that the lawsuit was “politically motivated,” pointing to Friedman’s affiliation with the Democratic party.

Friedman responded to the accusation by sending a formal request for a retraction of Roob’s statements to FSSA attorney Jessaca Turner Stults.

In a letter dated Aug. 26, Friedman said, “I insist that he issue a clarifying statement as I do not now nor have I ever had a financial interest in Wonderland Holding Corporation, the lessor of the office space for FSSA at 1230 State Road 2 West in LaPorte.”

“It is improper and wrong for Mr. Roob to claim that I ‘rent office space’ to FSSA or that I ‘stand to lose money if the agency moves its county office to a new location,’” the letter stated.

On Wednesday, Friedman said in an e-mail that “Mitch Roob has been as reckless with his facts as he has been in rolling out welfare privatization in our state.”

In November, state welfare officials launched a modernized welfare system that replaced hundreds of caseworkers throughout the state with an Internet Web site, a call center and a handful of county caseworkers. Madison County was one of 12 counties included in the first rollout of the program.

Critics have since said the new system makes getting and keeping benefits more difficult for needy Hoosiers.

LaPorte would be included in region three, the next portion of Indiana to undergo the rollout.