Got a good chuckle today when I read California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) comment concerning welfare recipients using state-funded debit cards at casino ATMs across the state.
If we are going to go the debit card route – which I do think is efficient – there is no reason at all card holders should be able to access one dollar in cash from any ATM, anywhere, let alone one on a casino floor. Once converted to cash, there is no way to trace the funds used.
From the Los Angeles Times, with a hat tip to Big Government.
California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found.
The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found.
State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who learned of the issue when asked to comment for this story, promised to take immediate action.
“We have instructed our vendors to prohibit these cards from being accepted at ATMs located in casinos and card rooms,” Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Wednesday. “It is reprehensible that anyone would use taxpayer money for anything other than its intended purpose.”
Exit question: The state knows exactly who withdrew cash from ATMs on casino floors. Will they demand the money be repaid?
My answer is absolutely not. They may reset the rules so cash can not be obtained in the future, but there is no way they will be able to go after the cash stolen. By allowing cash withdraws using debit cards, the state legislature and previous governor consciously allowed this fraud to happen. Many – if asked – will simply claim the ATM was convenient at the time and they needed to buy milk at the nearby store.
They knew it would allow fraud. They did not care.
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Those welfare recipients were just acting like their role models in Congress: look at what they have done to Social Security since the late sixties.
HA that is funny.