Another state considers drug testing welfare recipients

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Tarren Bragdon, former CEO of the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center and one of Gov. LePage’s transition team co-chairmen, left Maine several months ago to launch the Foundation for Government Accountability in Naples, Fla.

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When Bragdon was head of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, welfare reform was one of his biggest priorities, although some accused the organization of using anecdotes and twisting statistics to support the need for reform.

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In the recent Florida ruling, a judge accused Bragdon of similar practices when his group distributed a pamphlet that analyzed the impact of the Florida law require drug testing.

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Last month, a Florida district court judge suspended the new law and, in its written decision, dismissed a report by the Foundation for Government Accountability that had been cited by supporters of the law.

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“Even a cursory review of certain assumptions in the pamphlet undermines its conclusions,” the judge wrote. “Just by way of example, the pamphlet suggests that the state will save millions in the first year; but it arrives at this number by extrapolating from the 9.6 percent of [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] applications that are denied for ‘drug-related’ reasons, including those who tested positive and those who declined to be tested. It extends these hypothetical savings for the full year that a TANF applicant who tested positive for drugs would be subject to losing benefits.”