Opinion

New York’s welfare waste: Gottfried fans the flames

The Issue: Assemblyman Richard Gottfried’s comments about using welfare money for booze and porn.

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Policemen, firefighters, sanitation workers and even state legislators have the right to spend their earned money as they see fit (“Dems Bottle Up Welfare Reform Bill That Would End ‘Sinful Spending’ for Porn and Booze,” Jan. 7).

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried is so wrong to compare them to the “other people paid with government funds.”

He apparently forgot that these are taxpayer-provided funds. We taxpayers hope that legislators like Gottfried responsibly steward these funds so that they are spent appropriately and with the intended purpose.

These funds were intended to help with housing and food, not drinking and strip clubs. Gottfried dishonors the trust the public should be able to maintain in its leaders.

Only a weak person uses first responders and other public servants to make such a poor case. Americans need public servants who are strong. He should do the right thing and resign.

Matthew Paul

Stratford, Conn.

Don’t you just love knowing that while you get up each day to go to work and struggle to feed your own families and keep a roof over their heads, welfare recipients are enjoying your money by going to strip clubs, buying booze and maybe even drugs?

The American people are being robbed, while being told we need to give more or we aren’t patriotic or compassionate. D. M. Diana

Greeley, Pa.

Gottfried made an asinine statement that police and firemen receive government funds, as do welfare recipients.

They at least work for it; welfare recipients do nothing. John Palo

Monroe, NJ

Gottfried personifies the almost magically stupid idiots who serve in government. If he doesn’t feel it is government’s place to dictate where our tax money is being spent, then maybe he needs to look for a new line of work.

As a struggling taxpayer, I can suggest better ways to spend my money than on strippers, booze and porn. Is it any wonder this nation is nearly $18 trillion in debt?Kelly Van Rijn

Washington Township, NJ

Gottfried’s audacity is appalling. Municipal employees provide a service to the community, and public-assistance recipients don’t.

Federal and state funds are meant to be used for emergencies and to pay bills. This assistance is not meant to replace a job, and was never intended to be long-term.

I suggest that Gottfried revisit his stance on this issue, and that he think first and speak second.

Nowhere can we find a better example of misuse of public funds. Included among the taxpayers are the municipal employees he insults while siding with the idle.Maureen Palmeri

Woodlawn