By Brandi Watters
August 27, 2008 09:12 pm
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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.
Roob was unavailable for comment Wednesday and FSSA spokesman Lauren Auld responded to Friedman’s claims in his place. “A member of his family owns the space we lease so he does have some sort of connection to that. I think we stand by our comments.”
Roob called the lawsuit “politically motivated and baseless” early in the week but failed to give an explanation for his comments.
In an e-mail, Auld said, “We aren’t going to comment on the ‘baseless’ nature of the case because legal is still working on this.”
John Cardwell, a senior advocate and critic of the modernized welfare system, said Roob once falsely accused him of being politically and financially motivated to stop the rollout.
Roob previously accused Cardwell of working in the interest of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, a union that represented state welfare caseworkers, Cardwell said. Roob’s argument was that AFSCME stood to lose millions of dollars in union dues due to privatization.
Cardwell said Roob spread the rumors that he knew to be untrue.
“He didn’t make the assumption (I worked for them). He made the accusation. My only view is this that Mitch Roob clearly understood that I didn’t work with AFSCME. I think Mitch Roob clearly understood that Shaw and his father did not have a fiduciary interest in the property.”
Friedman said his family is selling the property in question on Friday and has no interest in keeping FSSA as clients.
“I wasn’t aware that they were selling the building to somebody else, but at this point, it’s still in his name,” Auld said Wednesday.
“Mitch Roob has done this thing, whether it’s Shaw or me or welfare clients that have has the temerity to speak up. Mitch does this thing where he has private talks with some little barb to discredit them,” Cardwell said.
“That’s just inappropriate behavior,” Cardwell added.
Auld said FSSA was making progress contrary to what the new system’s critics believe.
In a statement released Tuesday, Auld said the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture recently released a memo stating that FSSA’s timeliness in processing food stamps was 91.51 percent for November 2007 through April 2008. The national average is 86.33 percent.
FSSA is hosting an open house for area residents to get help with welfare benefits on Sept. 12 at Ivy Tech. The open house will begin at 9 a.m. and will run until 4:30 p.m.
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FSSA Open House
What: FSSA will host an open house to help area residents sign up for benefits or answer questions about individual cases.
When: Sept. 12, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Ivy Tech student lounge, 104 W. 53rd St., Anderson
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