Mayor Thinks People on Welfare ‘Flaunt It,’ Has Plan

The Mayor of Lewiston, Maine, has figured out the answer to society’s ills, and it comes in the form of public shaming.

His reasoning is that Maine has a website listing employee pensions and since social assistance is also tax-payer money, people have the right to know. Why are they treated differently than pensioners? Macdonald wrote. “It’s none of your business how much of your money they get and spend”.

The mayor, whose blunt talk has raised eyebrows before, appeared to put blame on Democrats for coddling welfare recipients.

Not to mention, welfare recipients are often major identity theft targets.

Macdonald has targeted welfare recipients before, declaring back in 2013 that anyone who came to Lewiston for welfare would be prosecuted.

Because MacDonald isn’t a state lawmaker he is unable to submit a state bill and will need the support of state lawmaker to make the bill a reality, the Portland Press Herald reported. One is placing a limit on General Assistance to a 60-month total lifetime benefit and the other, prohibiting the state from paying benefits for any additional child born after the recipient has been accepted into General Assistance.

Lest it seem like he’s simply scoring political points, Macdonald says he plans genuine action, writing that he intends to have a political ally submit a bill for a website to host the citizens personal information in the next state legislative session.

Macdonald is up for reelection in November. Protests broke out after Macdonald said that immigrants (Lewiston is a popular area for Somali refugees) should “leave [their] culture at the door”.

He added he doesn’t care whether some people who rightly receive benefits could be hurt, saying: “Some people are going to get harmed but if it’s for the good of everybody, that’s the way it is”.

“Go into a grocery store”.

“Mayor MacDonald is wasting everyone’s time”, Democratic candidate Ben Chin told FoxNews.com in an email.

Some who said they receive food-stamp benefits said they didn’t mind sharing their stories with our sister station WMTW-TV, but they said the creation of an online database was an invasion of privacy. “I’m not sorry. I hope this makes people think twice about applying for welfare”.