Barker Quoted in MPBN Article on Challenging Welfare Fraud Claims

Sharon Barker, director of the Women’s Resource Center at the University of Maine, was interviewed for a Maine Public Broadcasting Network article on women’s advocates challenging Gov. Paul LePage’s claims of welfare abuse in the state. LePage said during his weekly radio address that he thinks recipients are using taxpayers’ money to buy alcohol and gamble at casinos. Barker said there’s no reason abuses like those LePage claims couldn’t be verified, and she urges him to put his effort into making welfare-to-work programs more effective.