Show welfare chairman denies charges on payment changes in answer to a recent statement and article published la in a a salt lake city newspaper in which it was intimated that welfare directors had reduced old age assistance payments to te following statement has been issued by the public welfare commission the public welfare commission emphatically denies the accusation cusa tion reported in the recent newspaper article as having been made by mr air A that thai county welfare directors reduced old age assistance grants to estrange loyalty of pensioners from governor maw this att attack ack on the personal integrity and professional fess ional honesty of county welfare directors and the insinuation that responsible officials official 9 of the department use uee their of flees tor for political purposed pur posea are absolutely without basis in fact act in defense of our county welfare directors than who there Is nc c more faithful group of public servant and in fairness to governor maw who was drawn into a compromising situation through these baseless charges I 1 feel it ray my duty as chairman ot of the commission cc m ssie n to aneweer a n W s or them amri mr S ore anso i ia s accusations are based on a claim that old age grants were reduced in late july and september the whole structure of his case crumbles in the light of the simple fact that grants were not reduced statistical records ot of the depart continued ou on last page welfare head denies payment changes continued from page one ment which are public records and open to public inspection show that tile the average gr grant ant of 0 old age assistance la in the state changed only ten cents centa between july and september it there had been any reduction it most certainly would have teen reflected in the average for september in 21 ot of the 29 counties trie average grant increased a few cents cellas in seven the average grant decreased between one cent and 51 cents regarding the statement that republican county welfare directors ordered such illegal reductions duct ions let lat it be known that all employees of 0 the department including county directors are under a merit system As far as the administration of welfare program Is concerned there are no democrats or republicans if mr air knows the political party affiliation of each of the 29 counts county directors in t the he state ta ile he knows moie or than man the co ale commissioners missioners ners let t it further be known that county 0 anty welfare directors cannot arbitrarily manipulate th the a amoun amount t of grants to alid individuals Ivi duals they must conform to ito standards based on law and established esta blushed bli shed un firmly tor for all counties furthermore each county directors directo rs actions are carefully scrutinized bv a nonpartisan non partisan pai alsan seven member board composed of both republicans and democrats in addition new grants closures and changes in grants are checked periodically by state department to assure comp compliance with uniform state standards mr air Soren sons declaration as reported that pensioners are immune from reduction of old age pensions toi for certain forms of income or resources sources le simply reflects utter ignorance of jhb law or a viciously calculated design deign s to mislead the old folks under state and federal law it Is mandatory that all income and resources be ba taken into consideration co ns er in determining the amount of the grant deductions because of income have always been made i on this basis ever alc since the department pa part ment was established it Is interesting to know i in u conn conception eption with mr claim that grants have been reduced to estrange loyalty ot of pensioners from governor maw that the department has also been accused by certain self seeking individuals of recently raising grants to the aged in order to tf an enhance hance the popularity popular ltv of tile the present administration these accusations are as unfounded in tact fact as that made by mr air sorer son assistance grants to the aged are to any other needy individual si simply m ply are not and cannot be manipulated for the purpose of aiding or injuring a political candidate it Is indeed unfortunate that certain people persist in deceiving the old folks about their rights to public assistance ass stance under the law we are convinced however that the overwhelming majority of the thirteen thousand recipients of old age assistance in this state hagemore hav emore faith la the honesty and fairness of their own responsible legally appointed local welfare board members than they have confidence la in the statements of irresponsible self appointed critics |