October 9, 2024 • 38 mins
The Commonwealth has released information that Massachusetts has seen a 34.6% spike in EBT cards over the last year. The state now has 2.6 million EBT card holders in a state of almost 7 million residents. That info was discovered through a freedom of information act request by Taunton City Councilor Kelly Dooner. Kelly joined us to discuss this information and the growing calls for an audit of the MA Department of Transitional Assistance.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm WBS Costin's video.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Massachusetts is a state that has a population just under
seven billion, let's call it six point seven million or
six point eight million. And we have learned today because
of her freedom of information request that was filed by
Taunton City Council candidate City councilor Kelly Duner Dougner. She's
(00:29):
also running for a state Senate that we have issued
in Massachusetts active two point six million EBT cards. Kelly Douner.
Welcome to Night Side.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
How are you, hi, Dan, Thank you so much for
having me. I'm doing great. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, Well, thank you for what you've done here. What
caused you to issue this Freedom of Information Act request?
And you submitted this this resist this request to the
Department of Transitional Assistance in mid Septembers.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
I understand it right, yes, back on September seventeenth, I
submitted it. I have been submitting public records requests since
I believe, oh gosh, I want to say in March,
we've probably submitted close to thirty if not more. Now,
this all initially started back when the young female was
(01:33):
sexually assaulted at the Rockland hotel. I had concerns with
the hotel and taught and I just wanted more information
on what background checks were being done and what they
were finding, how they were coming up with the findings,
just for safety reasons, being a young female myself. So
(01:53):
it all kind of started back then. And then, as
I'm sure you know, with the state budget operating in
a deficit, the astronomical amount of money that we're spending,
you know, we just decided to kind of, you know,
just dig a little bit deeper. And back on September
seventeenth is when we had sent that request, and we
(02:13):
were just looking for truthfully, we were just trying to
see if what kind of out of state spending was happening,
or even out of country spending, like where was it in,
you know, towards the destinations in Hawaii. So we were
just kind of trying to get that sort of information.
We sent a number of requests just looking for the transactions,
(02:34):
where they were taking place, what the dollar amounts were
that were taking place, and loan Behold, we got back
the information regarding the number of EBT cards issued. So
I could not believe it when I was reading the
email firsthand that we went from you know, one point
nine million to two point six million, which is a
(02:58):
six hundred and seventy two thousand increase, which is just
an astronomical number.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
What is amazing to me, and I want to focus
on that number and put it in some context. So
we saw some stories about a week ago, which I
assume were stories that perhaps you shared with other journalists,
which talked about people who were using Massachusetts' EBT cards
(03:26):
in some far away places like Hawaii and Florida, places
that I assumed that was information that you also had
mined from the Department of Transitional Assistance.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
So called right, We've been trying to acquire that, yes,
but it seems like, you know, every time we submit
a new public records request, there's always some excuse as
to why they don't have the information, and there's just
a total lack of transparency. When I tell you, we
just get pushed around from department department. Sometimes they'll make
(04:02):
the excuse that, oh, we didn't see this email until now,
and we're, you know, two three weeks into this public
records for quaests. So then they you know, they deem
that they're going to respond from that date that they
magically found the email, not the date it was, it
was sent to them and they received it.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's interesting. There's a lot a lot of you know,
the political leaders on Beacon Hill talk about transparency, and
it's anything but transparency. I mean, this is your tax dollars,
my tax dollars that are being used. I don't mind
if they're being used to help people who are truly
in need. But here's here's my issue. And I'm hoping
that numbers in the radio Kelly are always difficult, but
(04:44):
I think there's about six point seven million people in Massachusetts.
Is that a fairly close estimate as far as you
understand that. I'm sure you've looked at that number.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
That's the number that I got as well.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, okay, so six point seven and there are now
as of September first, two point six million people with
active as I read this chart active EBD cards. That's
a tremendous increase from a little more than a year ago,
(05:19):
fourteen months ago July first, twenty twenty three, it's an
increase of six hundred and seventy two thousand, So it's
a it's a it's a thirty at least thirty two percent,
thirty three percent increase in less than a year. But
here's my question, and for those who are having trouble
(05:40):
following the numbers, how can a state with six point
seven million people have two point six million people with
EBT cards?
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Right?
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And just to put those numbers into perspective, you know,
we don't know the dollar amounts that are on these
EBT cars. But for example, say there was five hundred
on each of the new cards that was issued. So
I'm just talking about that six hundred and seventy two
thousand dollars increase. Say there was five hundred on every card,
that's upwards of three hundred million dollars of taxpayer money
(06:17):
that you know, and believe me, I wish we could help.
You know, everybody I've said that, but I am. You know,
something that bothers me in particular is that I was
speaking with a woman while it was out door knocking
and Wareham a few weeks back, and she was homeless
at the time. She was living in the house of
(06:37):
the door that I had knocked on with her two children.
It was a coworker who was letting her stay there
with the kids. She worked a full time job and
she could not qualify for any sort of assistant. So
this is a young mother, a single mother who's working
a full time job to support her children and doing
everything in her power to get by and do the
(07:00):
right thing, and she did not qualify for assistance. So,
you know, that kind of made me think, there's you know,
what's wrong with this, there's something wrong with the system
if it's somebody and this is somebody standing right in
front of me telling me this. This isn't you know
a story I heard from somebody like this was firsthand.
She was relaying that story to me, and right then
(07:21):
and there, you know, you know, I've been leading the charge,
i'd say, in the sense that I want to amend
the right to shelter law. That has been a top
priority for me. So this kind of all goes hand
in hand because I have a woman in front of
me who can't get any sort of assistance, Yet we're
providing this assistance to. At this point, I'm not even
sure who we're giving it to. Because if we're not
(07:42):
helping a woman like that who is in dire need
of assistance, then who are we giving these EBT cards to?
Is my question?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, that that is my problem too. If they're going
to use my sack my tax money, Okay, I want
to make sure it's usedly and efficiently and help people
who need it. I'm not opposed to that, but I
am opposed to them taking tax money from all of
us and spending it in a profligate way in which
(08:12):
they have no idea. Who are the folks with these
EBT cards? This number, which again boggles my mind, that
just the raw number. If we're a state of six
point seven million people and two point six two point
six active EBT cards are here in Massachusetts, that means that,
(08:39):
in theory, the six point seven million are providing EBT
cards for two point six Now, maybe there's some duplicates,
maybe there's some fraud, whatever. I'm not so much interested
in that, because the fraud would be here or there
or there. But there must be something in the system
which has gone amok uh, And then there must be
(09:01):
they must be handing these e b T cards out
like you know people hand out I don't know when
they used to hand out packs small packages of cigarettes
in downtown Boston. You want an eb T card, you
want any it It's it's frightening, it's frightening. To think
that this amount of money which could be used to
help people now is being drained off and in a
(09:26):
way in which the state apparently has lost control of this.
This program definitely tell you what I want to do
is I want to invite my callers to join the conversation.
What you would you have done here is hard work.
People don't realize how difficult it is to draw up
a Freedom of Information Act request which is in the
(09:47):
proper form and therefore it will be accepted by the
powers that be, and then to keep waiting and waiting
and waiting for some information. I must say this that
the letter that you were with this information comes from
Lauren Pecone. She is the general counsel according to the
signature of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services,
(10:09):
Department of Transitional Assistance. So this is not a number
that you're making up. This is a number that is
being provided to you by the Healey administration. And I'm
assuming that someone had to have looked at this number
and sent it out and realized that once it came
to you, as someone who's running for state Senate, that
(10:30):
you might want a campaign on that issue. So I
assume this figure is a totally accurate figure. I know
that they have sent some clarifying information which we can
go through, but I want to hear from people here
at Massachusetts. You're running for state Senate down in the
South Coast area, open, as we would say, an open
(10:52):
state Senate seed, a longtime Democratic and company has decided
to retire, and you are Yeah. I think you told
me today. You're a thirty two year old woman, a
Republican who was elected to the city council for the
second time. So you are a young person who obviously
(11:15):
has been able to identify an issue of great substance here,
because a state of six point seven million people cannot
support two point six million people on an EBT cards
on an ebt card, that just makes no sense at all.
We will open up the phone lines for Kelly Doner
(11:36):
Douner six one seven, two five four ten thirty six
one seven, nine three ten thirty. Feel free to join
the conversation if I have any questions, Kelly has the answers.
I'm I find this story just shocking. I realized there's
been an influx of people who have come into the
state under the right to shelter law. I get that,
so there's been an increase there, but how big and
(11:59):
inc I mean, we've been told that it's been you know,
a few thousand people, but maybe we've been misled. I'm
stunned by these numbers. Just put it in your head.
A state of six point nine million people now has
two point six million people on EBT cards. Maybe everybody
(12:20):
should be on an EBT card, and should we could
change the state the name of the state from Massachusetts
to EBT card Haven Back on Nights Out with my guest,
Taunton City Councilor Kelly Doner right after this.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
Night Side Studios on w b Z the news Radio.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
My guest is Kelly Doner. She is a taunted city
councilor in her second term. She is a thirty two
year old woman who takes her approach to politics quite seriously,
and she has filed all sorts of Freedom of Information
Act requests, which is really a service to all of us, Kelly,
(13:05):
for you to do this, and let's go to phone
calls and see what people have to say. We're going
to start off with Bill in Chelmstred Bill in Chelmstreet.
You first, this hour with Kelly Doner, a city councilor
from Taunted.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Go right ahead, good evening, Dan and Kelly.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
How are you We're doing great? Bill? Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
This kind of this kind of hits me. I live
in a town that borders, you know, a per capita
incomes are different from towns. But the supermarkets, you got
to my eyes, have been open for now months and
months and months, and I sat last week in a
line with a bill in front of me, a customer
(13:48):
in front of me that had three hundred and seventy
six dollars and all kinds of and I get it,
you know, this is a this is a necessary thing
for us. But bill was three seventy six. It came
down to sixty dollars and twenty something cent. Okay, but
some of the stuff that was in there.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
How did that build come down from three seventy six
to sixty I've heard about class I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I don't know. There was no coupons, know nothing on it.
So I'm not sure how the system works or what
the percents are. But what caught me off guard is
that the window of the supermarkets right there, I see
her cashier or a bagger helped her out to the
car and she gets in a late model Mercedes Benz. Now,
(14:34):
I don't know. I don't know how these cards are issued,
and I was I'm hoping they're issued to people that
really need it. But as I sit in lines now
I see it more often than not EVT cards that
come out in front of me, and you can see
it right on the screen because the screen faces not
(14:54):
only the customer, but it's a big screen and I'm
not looking for it all the time. But it's just
parent because sometimes the lights flash and somebody has to
come over and take something out or whatever it is.
But I think Kelly, Kelly is definitely onto something Dan,
because this is a lot bigger than I think we think.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, first of all, let me get Kelly's response, and
also I want to know, Kelly, you're down on the
South coast. You're not near Chelmstron. How old are you, Bill?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
If I could ask, I am sixty one sixty one?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Okay, so you've been around. So this is now appearing
a little out of the ordinary to you. Okay, Kelly,
your reaction.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
What Bill had to say, Yeah, So I'm gonna take
it into a little bit of a different story, which
is actually some information that I just found out tonight.
A constituent representative, Matt Moore Tori, had reached out. He's
also running for state Senate in a different district. But
(15:56):
they had reached out because they received and eb KEY
card and they were asking why they didn't understand why
they received an EBT card. Come to find out, they
never they never applied for this. They do not qualify
for this card, but they did receive this card. And
just to go a little bit deeper into that, they
(16:18):
reached out to the same office, the Department of Transitional Assistance,
asking why they received the card, and they kind of
gave some sort of excuse along the lines of, oh,
one of the children is receiving free lunch at the school,
which was not the case, or it is the case,
but the school gives free lunch to everyone. Child would
(16:41):
not normally qualify for free lunch. That the person made
that clear. So actually, I kid you not. I just
found out this information probably ten minutes before I got
on the air with you.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Well, that is the pitch, that's much of the pitch
that they should be breakfast for kids when they get
to school, which is a good eye idea. Okay, and
there should be free lunch for kids so that that
never ever, which is a good idea, But where is
the responsibility of parents and then the responsibility of the
state start. And then if on top of that, you're
(17:15):
going to say, well, if your kid gets a free lunch,
irrespective of what your income is, we're going to pop
an eb dcard and mail to you. Most people are
going to say, thank you very much. How do I
use this wonderful piece of plastic? Unbelievable?
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Well, and it's more, it's more unbelievable because this family
they did not they would not normally qualify for school lunch,
so they just happen to get it because the entire
municipality gets it. However, they're not a family that would qualify. Therefore,
that makes it even more concerning as to how this
(17:52):
got sent to them.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh absolutely absolutely. I mean, if if you have a
child in school who's going to get a free breakfast,
free lunch, and and and you fall in that category
where you need to help, I don't have a problem
with that at all. And if you decide, well we're
going to give every child the free lunch, Okay, Fine,
we're gonna do it that way. But then don't pile
(18:14):
it on and start sending out free EBD cards in
the mail to anyone whose kids is in that school,
because you can have you know, the you could, you
could have a child from a from a really poor
family who should get family should get an eb T
card next to the family of the school superintendent's kid,
(18:35):
or the school principal's kid, or lawyers in town, or
the children of a talk show host or a baseball player.
And they don't. They don't qualify other than the fact
that their child happens to be in the school that's
getting free lunches. Wow, that's that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, I built good than Kelly good luck. I think,
really I've cat my eyes open for a while on this,
but I think you're onto something pretty big. Builds not
all wrong, it's not all fraught.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Bill. If you have relatives or friends who are going
to be voting down on the South Coast, they should
be aware that Kelly's on the ballot. What's the district
that you're in down there, Kelly? What communities obviously.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Taunting yep, So it's the third Bristol and Plymouth, which
consists of Taunton, Rainham, Carver, Middle Borrow tight in Berkeley,
Wareham see konk Rahobis. It's Marion, very very large, large sect, so.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
You know large.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I have relatives and Marion Kelley. Bill, you'll get their vote.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
All right, sons, great? Thanks Bill, appreciated. Kelly, we're going
to take for a news at the bottom of the hour.
Here we'll stick with our phone calls. The only lines
that are open. There's one at six one seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty and one at six one seven nine thirty.
This is actually the sort of change that a state
like Massachusetts needs. Let's take care of people who need
(20:07):
the help, particularly people who live in Massachusetts and have
lived here. If we then have more funds to help
people who have come here recently and they need some help, great,
But the last thing we want to do is be
helping people. You know, I don't deserve an EBT card.
I don't know what you do, Kelly, you know for
(20:28):
a living beside a city council. But I suspect you
don't deserve an EBD card. But there's enough people who
if they're sent in the mail for free, they're gonna
use them. We've got a night's eye with my guest,
Kelly Doner, running for state Senate in the district that
comprises Taunton and many other communities on the South coast.
Back on Nightside after this. If you're on Night Side
(20:49):
with Dan Ray on wz Boston's news radio, Branklin, Massachusetts, Matt,
you're on with Kelly Doner, city councilor from Taunton, who's
running for state Senate.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
Yeah. I had a question about if there's two point
six million cards and there's seven million people in the state,
are the children getting cards to just the adults, because
then it's like multiplied to like three or four because
the average households.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well, I had that exact same thought, Matt, because I
don't think they're handing out EBT cards to children, although
maybe they are.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
So it's like the whole state on welfare.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Well, it begins to look that way when you look
at their number.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Yeah, and then it's like, no, wonder all the jobs,
like everybody's hiring, because like why would you get a
job if you're going to get basically free food, free
discounted rent and you're like you're living large. Like if
you think about like their actual there's like no responsibilities there.
They get all this assistance and at the end of
the day, they're going to get fed fed well better
(21:50):
than us because they don't even have to buy stuff
on sale. I mean, it really is like a public
health crisis because they're just buying junk food at the store,
like three hundred something dollars with well, no, no.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
And again. But the bottom line, here's here's my question.
How old are you? If I could ask Matt, you
saw like a young guy mid thirties, mid thirties. Okay,
so do you have a family?
Speaker 5 (22:12):
Yeah? And uh, and I work make way too much
money to be on welfare.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
How No, No, I get that. I get that. But
that's okay, that's good for you. It's good for you.
But do you let me ask you Okay, well, let
me ask you this. Do you begrudge your some of
your tax dollars going to help people who really need help,
really legitimately need help.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Yeah, but like again, there's two point six million people
out there.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
I mean, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, listen to me, Matt, Matt,
I think I'm asking a question and I'm not asking
it well enough. There are some people who do need.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Help people transitional assistance like the actual but actual transitional
assistance where like they get just enough to get by
to encourage them to get a job, or if they're disabled,
maybe help them a little bit more. But people, we'll
be driving around and use the cities bends on a
high interest loan because for the hell of it, pretty
much No, that's a problem though.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
That's what I'm saying is that whatever money we have
available to help people should help people who are in
need of help. That's all I'm saying. I don't mind
paying my taxes is going to help someone, but I
do mind.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
Yeah, but like, okay, my tax and we're going to
put a numble on it will probably say two hundred
thousand people probably actually need the help. The rest are
just like free loading for generations.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Well, I don't know. I just don't know. Kelly want
a quick comment of what Matt has to say.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, And what I find the most frustrating is that
I did meet a woman who was doing all the
right things, was trying to get back on her feet.
She was working a full time job and trying to
support two children, and she was working over time just
so she could feed them and she's not qualifying for assistance.
That's where I have a problem is when we have
(23:57):
people who are doing the right things and we're not
helping them take that step forward. But you know, there's
a lot.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Of living through the roof. You guys were just we're
supporting two point six million people, at least for the
people actually doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Exactly. All right, Matt, I got pack line. So I'm
going to run, But thank you, my friend. I appreciate
your call. I really do hope you continue to call
the program. Thank you. We're gonna go next, gonna go
to Chris is in Bunstable down to the Cape. Chris,
you are next on Nightside.
Speaker 7 (24:33):
Welcome, Thank you, good evening. Dan and Kelly. How are
you tonight.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
We're doing great, Thanks.
Speaker 7 (24:39):
Excellent. Yeah, So I was just listening and heard Kelly
and you lay all this out, and I just wanted
to call and thank Kelly for all of her great
work on this and a lot of other issues. She's
working hard for our constituents already, and you know, for
people all across the state. You know, I heard her
mentioned Matt Murratory, one of her fellow candidates. I'm actually
(25:00):
another Republican running in the Cape and Islands District. Chris
Low's on, So you know, Kelly's really shining a light
on this. It really proves the need for more Republicans
in office so we can have more transparency this one
party government, I mean, there's no incentive to be transparent
about anything, and we're seeing things like this happening all
across the state.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Chris, is this your first time? Is this your first
time running for state Senate?
Speaker 7 (25:26):
That's my second time. Actually, I actually was on with
you a few months ago, Dan.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I remembered, Yeah, no, I do remember. I do remember that.
How old are you? You're you are you in the
same age bracket as Kelly.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
I'm a young guy too, Yeah, I'm I'm thirty what
is thirty five now?
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So yeah, absolutely, And and you're the Cape in the
Islands district And what's that You're the Cape in the
Islands District For people who.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
Are listening, yes, yes, sir and everyone else.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, I think there's an infusion of young people and
people who want to see government work effectively and officially
efficiently and help people who really need help. I mean
that's a pretty simple platform, isn't it.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
Yes, absolutely. It's all about doing the right thing. And
to your point, you know, there are some of these
people who do need this assistance, and I think most
of us don't have a problem with that. But when
you see an increase like that year over year, something's
going on that's not right. So we need to shine
a light on that.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Well appreciate it, Chris. Thanks thanks for checking in. Best
of luck in your race on caeping the caping the Islands.
Speaker 7 (26:36):
Thank you very much, have a good night.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Welcome you too. So there's a bunch of you out
there running for office. That's that's good. Things shake things
up a little bit. Let me go to Wendy and Hopkinton. Wendy,
welcome next on nights side. You're on with my guest,
Kelly Doner Doner of the Taunton City Council who's a
candidate for States Senate down on the South coast. Go ahead, Wendy.
Speaker 8 (26:56):
Good evening to you, Dan, and to you Kelly, and yes,
thank you Kelly for all you're doing. I know that
public records requests can be painstaking and very frustrating. I
just wanted to ask, and I only caught the tail
end of the show, so I don't know what you
guys discussed earlier on, but Kelly, have you thought of
approaching the Attorney General's office to see if they would
(27:20):
investigate it, maybe with in conjunction with MS picone, possibly
looking into whether or not police officers in Massachusetts have
had a history of encountering arrestees who have within their
possession multiple EBT cards and starting there and maybe commencing
(27:41):
an investigation into whether or not there is a history
of persons in Massachusetts committing identity theft or identity fraud
in order to facilitate the production of EBT cards on
their behalf, resulting in persons having in their possession one.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Well, that's a huge right right right now, Wendy Kelly
is less than four weeks away from an election. If
she gets in office, that might give her that opportunity.
I think it's a great idea, But at this moment
in time, I think she's she's pretty busy on this
story and uh and running a campaign. Kelly wants your
(28:21):
respond to what Wendy has to say.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Yeah, you know, regarding this request, in particular with the
EBT cards, I have actually requested that our state auditor,
Diana is Auglio would do an audit, and I think
it's important for for somebody to take a deep dive
and to figure out where there is apparent there is
a lack of oversight happening, so figuring out where that's
(28:46):
stemming from, and you know, how we can combat it,
as well as just you know, making sure at one
point there were IDs with photos on the cards, So
I think it's important that we get back to that,
making sure that these cards have photos on them so
that the people using them, you know, we can tell
that that's the card that is a signed to them.
(29:09):
So I think just having the auditor take a deep
dive into this, and given the astronomical increase and the
potential amount of money being spent with this, I think
it's a no brainer. And I'm really hoping that the
state auditor will step up and and do the audit
on this program. It's desperately needed.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
All Right, that's a secorinary direction that sounds terrific. Thank
you for doing that.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
I appreciate thanks.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Thank you for well, thank you for calling the show. Wendy,
appreciate it whole lot. Thank you much, have a great night.
Thanks all right, go take a quick break. If you're
on the line, We're going to get you in. I
promised Mike, Annie and Charles, and we get a couple
of lines that are still open and try to get
as many as we can six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty six one seven. My name is Dan Ray. Back
with Taunton City Council of Kelly Doner right after this.
(29:58):
Now back to Dan ray life from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio. All right, let me
go next to Charles in Maine. Charles, welcome, You're next
on Nightside. We're talking about a Massachusetts problem, but I'll
get you in here. Go ahead, Charles.
Speaker 9 (30:17):
Hey, Dan, how are you doing tonight?
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I'm doing fine, sir. What's I can hear? You? Find?
Speaker 9 (30:22):
This has been irritating me for at least a week.
I go come down here for a funeral in Massachusetts,
and I have a niece that lives in a house,
and I say, wow, how can you afford this house? Oh,
uncle Charlie, I only paid twenty six dollars a month
for my place. Yet she has a boyfriend who works
(30:44):
full time and they will not get married. Then apparently
she gets somebody to help her. Ten hours a week.
Guess who's helping her? My sister. So my sister is
getting paid to help her dog her from the state.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
And wow, what is the involved in the program?
Speaker 9 (31:09):
You guys are not even touching it.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Oh, well, you're giving You're giving ideas to the right person.
Kelly Doner. Here is somebody who I think is probably
taking notes. Why is your reason? Yeah, what's the reason?
Speaker 9 (31:22):
Well, the reason is because they all have different last
names and they can't put it together.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
No, But what I'm saying is, what is the need
that your niece has to have help? How old your niece?
Speaker 9 (31:33):
Well, TuS they've been playing this game for spell she's
thirty four, thirty five years old.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
They've been playing this game forever, you know, the wealthy
of game. Living with the boyfriend works. She gets in
the house for twelve dollars a month. And it really
last week when I came in and I went and
visit her, and I'm listening to all this. I'm like,
all week, I've been trying to think of what can I.
Speaker 9 (31:56):
Do about this?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Wow?
Speaker 9 (31:58):
Yep, Wow, it's one and they've been doing it for
thirty you know, they've been doing it for years.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Kelly, your reaction.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Yeah, you know, I think that that's probably one one
of many situations happening here in Massachusetts. You know, it
is abuse of the system, and it's a problem across
the entire state. And I think, you know, there's no
real incentive when it comes to these programs to get
people off. You know, and I've talked to people firsthand there.
(32:33):
They could be working and they work a couple extra
hours so their income increases, and then the state threatens
to remove their assistance completely. So there's no real incentive
to do better and work a little bit hard. You know,
there's no incentive to get people off of the system,
and that's a problem across all of Massachusetts. I know
(32:54):
people who have experienced that, and they're working a job
where they don't necessarily make enough that we get them there,
So it kind of it backs them into a corner
to work less and stay on the system because we
really don't have a plan to help people get off
the system here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Charles, thank you for that example.
Speaker 9 (33:14):
I think there's but I think there's a these people
are doing it. It's a it's a I want to say,
like a game for them, but it's it's It irritates
me to think that I work so hard and that
she has a beautiful home and a boyfriend that works
full time and her mother sits with her ten or
twenty hours a week.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Wow. I'm hoping that that Kelly will get around to
this at some point. This is the sort of abuse
that occurs in a one party state. Charles, thank you
so much for your call. I really enjoy I enjoyed talking.
We hope you call again. Let me go very quickly.
I'm going to try to get two in here. We're
a little bit tight on time. Let me go to
(33:59):
Danielle and Worcester. Danielle, your next one, nice, I go ahead.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
Hey Dan, two really quick things. One about the number
of cards. So Wooster has been one of the cities
before the.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
State.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Danielle, this is a horrible connection. I don't know if
you're on a cell phone or whatever. But let's see
what I.
Speaker 6 (34:20):
Can get to another room. Is that better?
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Much better? Much better?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Go ahead, I just moved into a different room.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
So Wooster was one of the three in the beginning
when the free lunch and free breakfast died. There's only
three cities in the state that were awarded that was
like Worcester, Lowell and Springfield I think. And then they
opened it up a few years ago to the state
wide and so with that came summer benefits for kids
that went to something like that. So the people that
(34:47):
were getting the free lunch and Worcester would get the
EBT card. So a friend of mine would get it.
She barely qualified, to be honest, but it's kind of
on the border. But you don't need to qualify every
All kids are entire get.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
The free lunch.
Speaker 6 (35:00):
So it's just been getting free lunch for years, like
a long time now. But when you get the summer benefits,
when they send that out, you get a card per child.
So if you have three kids, and how's you getting
three cards?
Speaker 5 (35:13):
Wow?
Speaker 6 (35:13):
And then if they extend it.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
I'm being educated here, Kelly, were you aware of Kelly?
Were you aware of that?
Speaker 4 (35:19):
I know, Danielle, so that there.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
Is going to jack that number up tenfold. And then
the part about getting off to them like outside of
school lunches and all of that, you know. I like
the previous caller about talking well, I think it was
your guest too. I was talking about incentives. As an employer.
I see this all the time, you know, can you
pay me only this amount on the books and this
amount on the table. I'm like, no, Well, I can't
(35:45):
lose my this or I can't lose my bad And
I'm like, listen, listen, listen, you're backing up the wrong tree.
I'm not helping you scam, you know. But the point
is they are in like some people I do feel
bad for, because it's not truly that they're out to
scam the system. They're petrified of little corner thinking. Enough
with the job, So you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Danielle, again, we're losing you, Danielle. We're losing the signal. Here,
do me a favorite, Danielle. Uh, you're a great call.
You've always been a great call. Friends at College Hype
are giving away and I will get for you a
pink breast cancer awareness T shirt for College Hype. So
leave all the information with Rob or Dan and we'll
(36:28):
get that out to you. Okay, you're a regular caller
and you do a great job. Thank you so much. Okay,
thank you.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
I'll talk all right.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
To the callers in the line. I apologize to Mark
and Stephen and Kathy. We just ran out of time. Kelly,
how can folks get in touch with you or get
in touch with your campaign if they want more information.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Best way to get in touch with me would be
my website, which is elect Kellydouner dot com. Everything in
there comes directly to me and I would appreciate any
help and support that I can get. Time we bring
some balance back to Massachusetts and elect a senator who's
actually going to represent the people in the district and
the people across the state.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Okay, and it's elect that's easy to spell. Kelly is
k E L L Y and Douner is d O
O N e er dot com. Elect Kelly Douner dot com. Kelly,
thank you for this work that you've done, because it
benefits not only people who you hope to represent in
the state Senate down to the south coast, but it
also benefits everyone in Massachusetts because this sort of abuse
(37:31):
has to be taken out of the system, cleaned out
of the system, not only for the for the taxpayers,
but for the people who actually deserve benefits. They're getting
fewer and less benefits because others apparently are abusing the system.
You're doing great work, Kelly. Thank you so much. Thanks Dan,
we'll talk soon, thank you very much. All Right, we
(37:52):
come back. I'm going to next hour give away a
matter of fact, probably well, I'm not gonna tell you when.
I'm going to give away two tickets to the Tina
Turner Musical. And we'll give away two tickets in the
eleven o'clock hour to the Tina Turner Musical. So stay
with us here at Nights that we come back. Next hour,
I want to talk about Louis till Aunt, who's an
(38:13):
incredible guy, an incredible baseball player, but an incredible human being.
We'll be back on Night's side right after the ten
It's Night Side with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm WBS Costin's video.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Massachusetts is a state that has a population just under
seven billion, let's call it six point seven million or
six point eight million. And we have learned today because
of her freedom of information request that was filed by
Taunton City Council candidate City councilor Kelly Duner Dougner. She's
(00:29):
also running for a state Senate that we have issued
in Massachusetts active two point six million EBT cards. Kelly Douner.
Welcome to Night Side.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
How are you, hi, Dan, Thank you so much for
having me. I'm doing great. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, Well, thank you for what you've done here. What
caused you to issue this Freedom of Information Act request?
And you submitted this this resist this request to the
Department of Transitional Assistance in mid Septembers.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
I understand it right, yes, back on September seventeenth, I
submitted it. I have been submitting public records requests since
I believe, oh gosh, I want to say in March,
we've probably submitted close to thirty if not more. Now,
this all initially started back when the young female was
(01:33):
sexually assaulted at the Rockland hotel. I had concerns with
the hotel and taught and I just wanted more information
on what background checks were being done and what they
were finding, how they were coming up with the findings,
just for safety reasons, being a young female myself. So
(01:53):
it all kind of started back then. And then, as
I'm sure you know, with the state budget operating in
a deficit, the astronomical amount of money that we're spending,
you know, we just decided to kind of, you know,
just dig a little bit deeper. And back on September
seventeenth is when we had sent that request, and we
(02:13):
were just looking for truthfully, we were just trying to
see if what kind of out of state spending was happening,
or even out of country spending, like where was it in,
you know, towards the destinations in Hawaii. So we were
just kind of trying to get that sort of information.
We sent a number of requests just looking for the transactions,
(02:34):
where they were taking place, what the dollar amounts were
that were taking place, and loan Behold, we got back
the information regarding the number of EBT cards issued. So
I could not believe it when I was reading the
email firsthand that we went from you know, one point
nine million to two point six million, which is a
(02:58):
six hundred and seventy two thousand increase, which is just
an astronomical number.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
What is amazing to me, and I want to focus
on that number and put it in some context. So
we saw some stories about a week ago, which I
assume were stories that perhaps you shared with other journalists,
which talked about people who were using Massachusetts' EBT cards
(03:26):
in some far away places like Hawaii and Florida, places
that I assumed that was information that you also had
mined from the Department of Transitional Assistance.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
So called right, We've been trying to acquire that, yes,
but it seems like, you know, every time we submit
a new public records request, there's always some excuse as
to why they don't have the information, and there's just
a total lack of transparency. When I tell you, we
just get pushed around from department department. Sometimes they'll make
(04:02):
the excuse that, oh, we didn't see this email until now,
and we're, you know, two three weeks into this public
records for quaests. So then they you know, they deem
that they're going to respond from that date that they
magically found the email, not the date it was, it
was sent to them and they received it.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's interesting. There's a lot a lot of you know,
the political leaders on Beacon Hill talk about transparency, and
it's anything but transparency. I mean, this is your tax dollars,
my tax dollars that are being used. I don't mind
if they're being used to help people who are truly
in need. But here's here's my issue. And I'm hoping
that numbers in the radio Kelly are always difficult, but
(04:44):
I think there's about six point seven million people in Massachusetts.
Is that a fairly close estimate as far as you
understand that. I'm sure you've looked at that number.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
That's the number that I got as well.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, okay, so six point seven and there are now
as of September first, two point six million people with
active as I read this chart active EBD cards. That's
a tremendous increase from a little more than a year ago,
(05:19):
fourteen months ago July first, twenty twenty three, it's an
increase of six hundred and seventy two thousand, So it's
a it's a it's a thirty at least thirty two percent,
thirty three percent increase in less than a year. But
here's my question, and for those who are having trouble
(05:40):
following the numbers, how can a state with six point
seven million people have two point six million people with
EBT cards?
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Right?
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And just to put those numbers into perspective, you know,
we don't know the dollar amounts that are on these
EBT cars. But for example, say there was five hundred
on each of the new cards that was issued. So
I'm just talking about that six hundred and seventy two
thousand dollars increase. Say there was five hundred on every card,
that's upwards of three hundred million dollars of taxpayer money
(06:17):
that you know, and believe me, I wish we could help.
You know, everybody I've said that, but I am. You know,
something that bothers me in particular is that I was
speaking with a woman while it was out door knocking
and Wareham a few weeks back, and she was homeless
at the time. She was living in the house of
(06:37):
the door that I had knocked on with her two children.
It was a coworker who was letting her stay there
with the kids. She worked a full time job and
she could not qualify for any sort of assistant. So
this is a young mother, a single mother who's working
a full time job to support her children and doing
everything in her power to get by and do the
(07:00):
right thing, and she did not qualify for assistance. So,
you know, that kind of made me think, there's you know,
what's wrong with this, there's something wrong with the system
if it's somebody and this is somebody standing right in
front of me telling me this. This isn't you know
a story I heard from somebody like this was firsthand.
She was relaying that story to me, and right then
(07:21):
and there, you know, you know, I've been leading the charge,
i'd say, in the sense that I want to amend
the right to shelter law. That has been a top
priority for me. So this kind of all goes hand
in hand because I have a woman in front of
me who can't get any sort of assistance, Yet we're
providing this assistance to. At this point, I'm not even
sure who we're giving it to. Because if we're not
(07:42):
helping a woman like that who is in dire need
of assistance, then who are we giving these EBT cards to?
Is my question?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, that that is my problem too. If they're going
to use my sack my tax money, Okay, I want
to make sure it's usedly and efficiently and help people
who need it. I'm not opposed to that, but I
am opposed to them taking tax money from all of
us and spending it in a profligate way in which
(08:12):
they have no idea. Who are the folks with these
EBT cards? This number, which again boggles my mind, that
just the raw number. If we're a state of six
point seven million people and two point six two point
six active EBT cards are here in Massachusetts, that means that,
(08:39):
in theory, the six point seven million are providing EBT
cards for two point six Now, maybe there's some duplicates,
maybe there's some fraud, whatever. I'm not so much interested
in that, because the fraud would be here or there
or there. But there must be something in the system
which has gone amok uh, And then there must be
(09:01):
they must be handing these e b T cards out
like you know people hand out I don't know when
they used to hand out packs small packages of cigarettes
in downtown Boston. You want an eb T card, you
want any it It's it's frightening, it's frightening. To think
that this amount of money which could be used to
help people now is being drained off and in a
(09:26):
way in which the state apparently has lost control of this.
This program definitely tell you what I want to do
is I want to invite my callers to join the conversation.
What you would you have done here is hard work.
People don't realize how difficult it is to draw up
a Freedom of Information Act request which is in the
(09:47):
proper form and therefore it will be accepted by the
powers that be, and then to keep waiting and waiting
and waiting for some information. I must say this that
the letter that you were with this information comes from
Lauren Pecone. She is the general counsel according to the
signature of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services,
(10:09):
Department of Transitional Assistance. So this is not a number
that you're making up. This is a number that is
being provided to you by the Healey administration. And I'm
assuming that someone had to have looked at this number
and sent it out and realized that once it came
to you, as someone who's running for state Senate, that
(10:30):
you might want a campaign on that issue. So I
assume this figure is a totally accurate figure. I know
that they have sent some clarifying information which we can
go through, but I want to hear from people here
at Massachusetts. You're running for state Senate down in the
South Coast area, open, as we would say, an open
(10:52):
state Senate seed, a longtime Democratic and company has decided
to retire, and you are Yeah. I think you told
me today. You're a thirty two year old woman, a
Republican who was elected to the city council for the
second time. So you are a young person who obviously
(11:15):
has been able to identify an issue of great substance here,
because a state of six point seven million people cannot
support two point six million people on an EBT cards
on an ebt card, that just makes no sense at all.
We will open up the phone lines for Kelly Doner
(11:36):
Douner six one seven, two five four ten thirty six
one seven, nine three ten thirty. Feel free to join
the conversation if I have any questions, Kelly has the answers.
I'm I find this story just shocking. I realized there's
been an influx of people who have come into the
state under the right to shelter law. I get that,
so there's been an increase there, but how big and
(11:59):
inc I mean, we've been told that it's been you know,
a few thousand people, but maybe we've been misled. I'm
stunned by these numbers. Just put it in your head.
A state of six point nine million people now has
two point six million people on EBT cards. Maybe everybody
(12:20):
should be on an EBT card, and should we could
change the state the name of the state from Massachusetts
to EBT card Haven Back on Nights Out with my guest,
Taunton City Councilor Kelly Doner right after this.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
Night Side Studios on w b Z the news Radio.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
My guest is Kelly Doner. She is a taunted city
councilor in her second term. She is a thirty two
year old woman who takes her approach to politics quite seriously,
and she has filed all sorts of Freedom of Information
Act requests, which is really a service to all of us, Kelly,
(13:05):
for you to do this, and let's go to phone
calls and see what people have to say. We're going
to start off with Bill in Chelmstred Bill in Chelmstreet.
You first, this hour with Kelly Doner, a city councilor
from Taunted.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Go right ahead, good evening, Dan and Kelly.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
How are you We're doing great? Bill? Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
This kind of this kind of hits me. I live
in a town that borders, you know, a per capita
incomes are different from towns. But the supermarkets, you got
to my eyes, have been open for now months and
months and months, and I sat last week in a
line with a bill in front of me, a customer
(13:48):
in front of me that had three hundred and seventy
six dollars and all kinds of and I get it,
you know, this is a this is a necessary thing
for us. But bill was three seventy six. It came
down to sixty dollars and twenty something cent. Okay, but
some of the stuff that was in there.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
How did that build come down from three seventy six
to sixty I've heard about class I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I don't know. There was no coupons, know nothing on it.
So I'm not sure how the system works or what
the percents are. But what caught me off guard is
that the window of the supermarkets right there, I see
her cashier or a bagger helped her out to the
car and she gets in a late model Mercedes Benz. Now,
(14:34):
I don't know. I don't know how these cards are issued,
and I was I'm hoping they're issued to people that
really need it. But as I sit in lines now
I see it more often than not EVT cards that
come out in front of me, and you can see
it right on the screen because the screen faces not
(14:54):
only the customer, but it's a big screen and I'm
not looking for it all the time. But it's just
parent because sometimes the lights flash and somebody has to
come over and take something out or whatever it is.
But I think Kelly, Kelly is definitely onto something Dan,
because this is a lot bigger than I think we think.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, first of all, let me get Kelly's response, and
also I want to know, Kelly, you're down on the
South coast. You're not near Chelmstron. How old are you, Bill?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
If I could ask, I am sixty one sixty one?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Okay, so you've been around. So this is now appearing
a little out of the ordinary to you. Okay, Kelly,
your reaction.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
What Bill had to say, Yeah, So I'm gonna take
it into a little bit of a different story, which
is actually some information that I just found out tonight.
A constituent representative, Matt Moore Tori, had reached out. He's
also running for state Senate in a different district. But
(15:56):
they had reached out because they received and eb KEY
card and they were asking why they didn't understand why
they received an EBT card. Come to find out, they
never they never applied for this. They do not qualify
for this card, but they did receive this card. And
just to go a little bit deeper into that, they
(16:18):
reached out to the same office, the Department of Transitional Assistance,
asking why they received the card, and they kind of
gave some sort of excuse along the lines of, oh,
one of the children is receiving free lunch at the school,
which was not the case, or it is the case,
but the school gives free lunch to everyone. Child would
(16:41):
not normally qualify for free lunch. That the person made
that clear. So actually, I kid you not. I just
found out this information probably ten minutes before I got
on the air with you.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Well, that is the pitch, that's much of the pitch
that they should be breakfast for kids when they get
to school, which is a good eye idea. Okay, and
there should be free lunch for kids so that that
never ever, which is a good idea, But where is
the responsibility of parents and then the responsibility of the
state start. And then if on top of that, you're
(17:15):
going to say, well, if your kid gets a free lunch,
irrespective of what your income is, we're going to pop
an eb dcard and mail to you. Most people are
going to say, thank you very much. How do I
use this wonderful piece of plastic? Unbelievable?
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Well, and it's more, it's more unbelievable because this family
they did not they would not normally qualify for school lunch,
so they just happen to get it because the entire
municipality gets it. However, they're not a family that would qualify. Therefore,
that makes it even more concerning as to how this
(17:52):
got sent to them.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh absolutely absolutely. I mean, if if you have a
child in school who's going to get a free breakfast,
free lunch, and and and you fall in that category
where you need to help, I don't have a problem
with that at all. And if you decide, well we're
going to give every child the free lunch, Okay, Fine,
we're gonna do it that way. But then don't pile
(18:14):
it on and start sending out free EBD cards in
the mail to anyone whose kids is in that school,
because you can have you know, the you could, you
could have a child from a from a really poor
family who should get family should get an eb T
card next to the family of the school superintendent's kid,
(18:35):
or the school principal's kid, or lawyers in town, or
the children of a talk show host or a baseball player.
And they don't. They don't qualify other than the fact
that their child happens to be in the school that's
getting free lunches. Wow, that's that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, I built good than Kelly good luck. I think,
really I've cat my eyes open for a while on this,
but I think you're onto something pretty big. Builds not
all wrong, it's not all fraught.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Bill. If you have relatives or friends who are going
to be voting down on the South Coast, they should
be aware that Kelly's on the ballot. What's the district
that you're in down there, Kelly? What communities obviously.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Taunting yep, So it's the third Bristol and Plymouth, which
consists of Taunton, Rainham, Carver, Middle Borrow tight in Berkeley,
Wareham see konk Rahobis. It's Marion, very very large, large sect, so.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
You know large.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I have relatives and Marion Kelley. Bill, you'll get their vote.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
All right, sons, great? Thanks Bill, appreciated. Kelly, we're going
to take for a news at the bottom of the hour.
Here we'll stick with our phone calls. The only lines
that are open. There's one at six one seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty and one at six one seven nine thirty.
This is actually the sort of change that a state
like Massachusetts needs. Let's take care of people who need
(20:07):
the help, particularly people who live in Massachusetts and have
lived here. If we then have more funds to help
people who have come here recently and they need some help, great,
But the last thing we want to do is be
helping people. You know, I don't deserve an EBT card.
I don't know what you do, Kelly, you know for
(20:28):
a living beside a city council. But I suspect you
don't deserve an EBD card. But there's enough people who
if they're sent in the mail for free, they're gonna
use them. We've got a night's eye with my guest,
Kelly Doner, running for state Senate in the district that
comprises Taunton and many other communities on the South coast.
Back on Nightside after this. If you're on Night Side
(20:49):
with Dan Ray on wz Boston's news radio, Branklin, Massachusetts, Matt,
you're on with Kelly Doner, city councilor from Taunton, who's
running for state Senate.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
Yeah. I had a question about if there's two point
six million cards and there's seven million people in the state,
are the children getting cards to just the adults, because
then it's like multiplied to like three or four because
the average households.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well, I had that exact same thought, Matt, because I
don't think they're handing out EBT cards to children, although
maybe they are.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
So it's like the whole state on welfare.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Well, it begins to look that way when you look
at their number.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Yeah, and then it's like, no, wonder all the jobs,
like everybody's hiring, because like why would you get a
job if you're going to get basically free food, free
discounted rent and you're like you're living large. Like if
you think about like their actual there's like no responsibilities there.
They get all this assistance and at the end of
the day, they're going to get fed fed well better
(21:50):
than us because they don't even have to buy stuff
on sale. I mean, it really is like a public
health crisis because they're just buying junk food at the store,
like three hundred something dollars with well, no, no.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
And again. But the bottom line, here's here's my question.
How old are you? If I could ask Matt, you
saw like a young guy mid thirties, mid thirties. Okay,
so do you have a family?
Speaker 5 (22:12):
Yeah? And uh, and I work make way too much
money to be on welfare.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
How No, No, I get that. I get that. But
that's okay, that's good for you. It's good for you.
But do you let me ask you Okay, well, let
me ask you this. Do you begrudge your some of
your tax dollars going to help people who really need help,
really legitimately need help.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Yeah, but like again, there's two point six million people
out there.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
I mean, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, listen to me, Matt, Matt,
I think I'm asking a question and I'm not asking
it well enough. There are some people who do need.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Help people transitional assistance like the actual but actual transitional
assistance where like they get just enough to get by
to encourage them to get a job, or if they're disabled,
maybe help them a little bit more. But people, we'll
be driving around and use the cities bends on a
high interest loan because for the hell of it, pretty
much No, that's a problem though.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
That's what I'm saying is that whatever money we have
available to help people should help people who are in
need of help. That's all I'm saying. I don't mind
paying my taxes is going to help someone, but I
do mind.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
Yeah, but like, okay, my tax and we're going to
put a numble on it will probably say two hundred
thousand people probably actually need the help. The rest are
just like free loading for generations.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Well, I don't know. I just don't know. Kelly want
a quick comment of what Matt has to say.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, And what I find the most frustrating is that
I did meet a woman who was doing all the
right things, was trying to get back on her feet.
She was working a full time job and trying to
support two children, and she was working over time just
so she could feed them and she's not qualifying for assistance.
That's where I have a problem is when we have
(23:57):
people who are doing the right things and we're not
helping them take that step forward. But you know, there's
a lot.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Of living through the roof. You guys were just we're
supporting two point six million people, at least for the
people actually doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Exactly. All right, Matt, I got pack line. So I'm
going to run, But thank you, my friend. I appreciate
your call. I really do hope you continue to call
the program. Thank you. We're gonna go next, gonna go
to Chris is in Bunstable down to the Cape. Chris,
you are next on Nightside.
Speaker 7 (24:33):
Welcome, Thank you, good evening. Dan and Kelly. How are
you tonight.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
We're doing great, Thanks.
Speaker 7 (24:39):
Excellent. Yeah, So I was just listening and heard Kelly
and you lay all this out, and I just wanted
to call and thank Kelly for all of her great
work on this and a lot of other issues. She's
working hard for our constituents already, and you know, for
people all across the state. You know, I heard her
mentioned Matt Murratory, one of her fellow candidates. I'm actually
(25:00):
another Republican running in the Cape and Islands District. Chris
Low's on, So you know, Kelly's really shining a light
on this. It really proves the need for more Republicans
in office so we can have more transparency this one
party government, I mean, there's no incentive to be transparent
about anything, and we're seeing things like this happening all
across the state.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Chris, is this your first time? Is this your first
time running for state Senate?
Speaker 7 (25:26):
That's my second time. Actually, I actually was on with
you a few months ago, Dan.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I remembered, Yeah, no, I do remember. I do remember that.
How old are you? You're you are you in the
same age bracket as Kelly.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
I'm a young guy too, Yeah, I'm I'm thirty what
is thirty five now?
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So yeah, absolutely, And and you're the Cape in the
Islands district And what's that You're the Cape in the
Islands District For people who.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
Are listening, yes, yes, sir and everyone else.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, I think there's an infusion of young people and
people who want to see government work effectively and officially
efficiently and help people who really need help. I mean
that's a pretty simple platform, isn't it.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
Yes, absolutely. It's all about doing the right thing. And
to your point, you know, there are some of these
people who do need this assistance, and I think most
of us don't have a problem with that. But when
you see an increase like that year over year, something's
going on that's not right. So we need to shine
a light on that.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Well appreciate it, Chris. Thanks thanks for checking in. Best
of luck in your race on caeping the caping the Islands.
Speaker 7 (26:36):
Thank you very much, have a good night.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Welcome you too. So there's a bunch of you out
there running for office. That's that's good. Things shake things
up a little bit. Let me go to Wendy and Hopkinton. Wendy,
welcome next on nights side. You're on with my guest,
Kelly Doner Doner of the Taunton City Council who's a
candidate for States Senate down on the South coast. Go ahead, Wendy.
Speaker 8 (26:56):
Good evening to you, Dan, and to you Kelly, and yes,
thank you Kelly for all you're doing. I know that
public records requests can be painstaking and very frustrating. I
just wanted to ask, and I only caught the tail
end of the show, so I don't know what you
guys discussed earlier on, but Kelly, have you thought of
approaching the Attorney General's office to see if they would
(27:20):
investigate it, maybe with in conjunction with MS picone, possibly
looking into whether or not police officers in Massachusetts have
had a history of encountering arrestees who have within their
possession multiple EBT cards and starting there and maybe commencing
(27:41):
an investigation into whether or not there is a history
of persons in Massachusetts committing identity theft or identity fraud
in order to facilitate the production of EBT cards on
their behalf, resulting in persons having in their possession one.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Well, that's a huge right right right now, Wendy Kelly
is less than four weeks away from an election. If
she gets in office, that might give her that opportunity.
I think it's a great idea, But at this moment
in time, I think she's she's pretty busy on this
story and uh and running a campaign. Kelly wants your
(28:21):
respond to what Wendy has to say.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Yeah, you know, regarding this request, in particular with the
EBT cards, I have actually requested that our state auditor,
Diana is Auglio would do an audit, and I think
it's important for for somebody to take a deep dive
and to figure out where there is apparent there is
a lack of oversight happening, so figuring out where that's
(28:46):
stemming from, and you know, how we can combat it,
as well as just you know, making sure at one
point there were IDs with photos on the cards, So
I think it's important that we get back to that,
making sure that these cards have photos on them so
that the people using them, you know, we can tell
that that's the card that is a signed to them.
(29:09):
So I think just having the auditor take a deep
dive into this, and given the astronomical increase and the
potential amount of money being spent with this, I think
it's a no brainer. And I'm really hoping that the
state auditor will step up and and do the audit
on this program. It's desperately needed.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
All Right, that's a secorinary direction that sounds terrific. Thank
you for doing that.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
I appreciate thanks.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Thank you for well, thank you for calling the show. Wendy,
appreciate it whole lot. Thank you much, have a great night.
Thanks all right, go take a quick break. If you're
on the line, We're going to get you in. I
promised Mike, Annie and Charles, and we get a couple
of lines that are still open and try to get
as many as we can six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty six one seven. My name is Dan Ray. Back
with Taunton City Council of Kelly Doner right after this.
(29:58):
Now back to Dan ray life from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio. All right, let me
go next to Charles in Maine. Charles, welcome, You're next
on Nightside. We're talking about a Massachusetts problem, but I'll
get you in here. Go ahead, Charles.
Speaker 9 (30:17):
Hey, Dan, how are you doing tonight?
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I'm doing fine, sir. What's I can hear? You? Find?
Speaker 9 (30:22):
This has been irritating me for at least a week.
I go come down here for a funeral in Massachusetts,
and I have a niece that lives in a house,
and I say, wow, how can you afford this house? Oh,
uncle Charlie, I only paid twenty six dollars a month
for my place. Yet she has a boyfriend who works
(30:44):
full time and they will not get married. Then apparently
she gets somebody to help her. Ten hours a week.
Guess who's helping her? My sister. So my sister is
getting paid to help her dog her from the state.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
And wow, what is the involved in the program?
Speaker 9 (31:09):
You guys are not even touching it.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Oh, well, you're giving You're giving ideas to the right person.
Kelly Doner. Here is somebody who I think is probably
taking notes. Why is your reason? Yeah, what's the reason?
Speaker 9 (31:22):
Well, the reason is because they all have different last
names and they can't put it together.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
No, But what I'm saying is, what is the need
that your niece has to have help? How old your niece?
Speaker 9 (31:33):
Well, TuS they've been playing this game for spell she's
thirty four, thirty five years old.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
They've been playing this game forever, you know, the wealthy
of game. Living with the boyfriend works. She gets in
the house for twelve dollars a month. And it really
last week when I came in and I went and
visit her, and I'm listening to all this. I'm like,
all week, I've been trying to think of what can I.
Speaker 9 (31:56):
Do about this?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Wow?
Speaker 9 (31:58):
Yep, Wow, it's one and they've been doing it for
thirty you know, they've been doing it for years.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Kelly, your reaction.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Yeah, you know, I think that that's probably one one
of many situations happening here in Massachusetts. You know, it
is abuse of the system, and it's a problem across
the entire state. And I think, you know, there's no
real incentive when it comes to these programs to get
people off. You know, and I've talked to people firsthand there.
(32:33):
They could be working and they work a couple extra
hours so their income increases, and then the state threatens
to remove their assistance completely. So there's no real incentive
to do better and work a little bit hard. You know,
there's no incentive to get people off of the system,
and that's a problem across all of Massachusetts. I know
(32:54):
people who have experienced that, and they're working a job
where they don't necessarily make enough that we get them there,
So it kind of it backs them into a corner
to work less and stay on the system because we
really don't have a plan to help people get off
the system here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Charles, thank you for that example.
Speaker 9 (33:14):
I think there's but I think there's a these people
are doing it. It's a it's a I want to say,
like a game for them, but it's it's It irritates
me to think that I work so hard and that
she has a beautiful home and a boyfriend that works
full time and her mother sits with her ten or
twenty hours a week.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Wow. I'm hoping that that Kelly will get around to
this at some point. This is the sort of abuse
that occurs in a one party state. Charles, thank you
so much for your call. I really enjoy I enjoyed talking.
We hope you call again. Let me go very quickly.
I'm going to try to get two in here. We're
a little bit tight on time. Let me go to
(33:59):
Danielle and Worcester. Danielle, your next one, nice, I go ahead.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
Hey Dan, two really quick things. One about the number
of cards. So Wooster has been one of the cities
before the.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
State.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Danielle, this is a horrible connection. I don't know if
you're on a cell phone or whatever. But let's see
what I.
Speaker 6 (34:20):
Can get to another room. Is that better?
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Much better? Much better?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Go ahead, I just moved into a different room.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
So Wooster was one of the three in the beginning
when the free lunch and free breakfast died. There's only
three cities in the state that were awarded that was
like Worcester, Lowell and Springfield I think. And then they
opened it up a few years ago to the state
wide and so with that came summer benefits for kids
that went to something like that. So the people that
(34:47):
were getting the free lunch and Worcester would get the
EBT card. So a friend of mine would get it.
She barely qualified, to be honest, but it's kind of
on the border. But you don't need to qualify every
All kids are entire get.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
The free lunch.
Speaker 6 (35:00):
So it's just been getting free lunch for years, like
a long time now. But when you get the summer benefits,
when they send that out, you get a card per child.
So if you have three kids, and how's you getting
three cards?
Speaker 5 (35:13):
Wow?
Speaker 6 (35:13):
And then if they extend it.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
I'm being educated here, Kelly, were you aware of Kelly?
Were you aware of that?
Speaker 4 (35:19):
I know, Danielle, so that there.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
Is going to jack that number up tenfold. And then
the part about getting off to them like outside of
school lunches and all of that, you know. I like
the previous caller about talking well, I think it was
your guest too. I was talking about incentives. As an employer.
I see this all the time, you know, can you
pay me only this amount on the books and this
amount on the table. I'm like, no, Well, I can't
(35:45):
lose my this or I can't lose my bad And
I'm like, listen, listen, listen, you're backing up the wrong tree.
I'm not helping you scam, you know. But the point
is they are in like some people I do feel
bad for, because it's not truly that they're out to
scam the system. They're petrified of little corner thinking. Enough
with the job, So you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Danielle, again, we're losing you, Danielle. We're losing the signal. Here,
do me a favorite, Danielle. Uh, you're a great call.
You've always been a great call. Friends at College Hype
are giving away and I will get for you a
pink breast cancer awareness T shirt for College Hype. So
leave all the information with Rob or Dan and we'll
(36:28):
get that out to you. Okay, you're a regular caller
and you do a great job. Thank you so much. Okay,
thank you.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
I'll talk all right.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
To the callers in the line. I apologize to Mark
and Stephen and Kathy. We just ran out of time. Kelly,
how can folks get in touch with you or get
in touch with your campaign if they want more information.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Best way to get in touch with me would be
my website, which is elect Kellydouner dot com. Everything in
there comes directly to me and I would appreciate any
help and support that I can get. Time we bring
some balance back to Massachusetts and elect a senator who's
actually going to represent the people in the district and
the people across the state.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Okay, and it's elect that's easy to spell. Kelly is
k E L L Y and Douner is d O
O N e er dot com. Elect Kelly Douner dot com. Kelly,
thank you for this work that you've done, because it
benefits not only people who you hope to represent in
the state Senate down to the south coast, but it
also benefits everyone in Massachusetts because this sort of abuse
(37:31):
has to be taken out of the system, cleaned out
of the system, not only for the for the taxpayers,
but for the people who actually deserve benefits. They're getting
fewer and less benefits because others apparently are abusing the system.
You're doing great work, Kelly. Thank you so much. Thanks Dan,
we'll talk soon, thank you very much. All Right, we
(37:52):
come back. I'm going to next hour give away a
matter of fact, probably well, I'm not gonna tell you when.
I'm going to give away two tickets to the Tina
Turner Musical. And we'll give away two tickets in the
eleven o'clock hour to the Tina Turner Musical. So stay
with us here at Nights that we come back. Next hour,
I want to talk about Louis till Aunt, who's an
(38:13):
incredible guy, an incredible baseball player, but an incredible human being.
We'll be back on Night's side right after the ten
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