Southington State Senator Speaks Out on Irene Food Stamp Fraud Allegations

Written by Patch Associate Regional Editor Eileen McNamara

It's been more than a year since the state launched an investigation into whether nearly 200 state workers improperly received food stamp assistance in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, and the probe continues with no arrests or clear outcomes. 

Amid allegations that some workers earning six-figure salaries got food stamp assistance after the storm knocked out power for days to nearly one million utility customers in Connecticut, dozens of state workers were suspended and dozens more fired. 

Southington State Sen. Joe Markley said in the Middletown Press article that the food stamp process needs an administrative overhaul. 

“My intention was not so much in catching people, but making sure the program is properly administered.”

“If the state fails to administer a program properly, with safeguards, then you are inviting and encouraging abuse,” Markley said. “It is incumbent upon us not to invite temptation. The main question is not who we caught, but let’s do it better next time. I think the department has learned its lesson, that people need proper training, and need to make sure they can verify the information they get from people.”

“If someone is a good state employee, I hate to see them lose their livelihood because they made a mistake at a time when a lot of people made a mistake,” Markley said.

But in the months following the disciplines most of the state employees who were let go, about 90 in all, won their jobs back in arbitration hearings, according to a report this weekend in the Middletown Press. Another 53 workers received suspensions ranging from a few weeks to several months as a result of the alleged fraud, the newspaper reports. 

“All of the (state employees) who were found to have received payments under D-SNAP to which they were not entitled have repaid the amount inappropriately received,” Linda Yelmini, director of state labor relations, told the Press. “The repayment was in addition to loss of pay as a result of a suspension or other disciplinary action.”

Following the August 2011 storm more than 1,000 state workers, along with  thousands of other residents in Connecticut, sought out and received benefits from the special Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or D-SNAP. The state made the assistance available to those who suffered losses during Irene's long power outages. The benefits were typically between $200 and $1,200 per applicant.