There's No Conspiracy Here, Governor

The trial of the welfare mothers and their supporters begins this morning in Room 404 of the Boston Municipal Courthouse.

Hanging over the trial is the remarkable report released on Tuesday by the Cohen committee, a report which documents the gross mismanagement of the Massachusetts welfare system, and places the blame squarely on Gov. Volpe and his administration.

The report corroborates the complaints of the protesting mothers. Its central point is that the state's welfare money is not reaching the people for whom it was intended. The mothers who are on trial today for sitting-in in a desperate attempt to obtain money for winter clothing for their children represent the victims of the welfare system. The Cohen report has now filled in the other side of the picture: now we know where the money has been going.

Gov. Volpe assured the public on Wednesday that the protesting mothers were in fact getting enough money, although how he came to this determination amid the utter chaos of his welfare administration remains a mystery.

The facts indicate that the Governor is wrong. The basic allowance for women with two children is about $50 per week. This money is meant to cover all of a family's needs. It just isn't enough, and to keep families going at all, an informal system of extra payments has developed. These extra payments are not for luxuries: they are an essential part of a welfare recipient's income. Now the money for these payments is running out--as a direct consequence of the welfare mismanagement and profiteering that was revealed this week. The mothers who demonstrated at the State House were told by Massachusetts officials that no action could be taken on their demands for winter clothing allowances until the corruption-ridden Medicaid situation was cleared up.

And so the reason for last week's sit-in has nothing to do with Gov. Volpe's imaginary "nation-wide conspiracy." The sit-in was the result of the breakdown of the welfare system, not its cause. Volpe's demagogic charges of conspiracy, like the conspiracy charges which have been brought against the welfare mothers in court, are no more than a smokescreen to protect the government at the expense of the citizens it was elected to serve. There was no conspiracy involved in last week's sit-in, and the defendants should be acquitted.