I read with trepidation an article in the Aug. 30 Sun Journal about conservative activist James O’Keefe coming to Maine with funding, in part, by the Koch brothers. With the mere mention of “conservative” and “Koch brothers” in the same article, one needs to read no further to know what is coming.

O’Keefe has claimed that there is fraud and abuse in the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Hmmm, targeting the poor. Surprise.

Even though O’Keefe secretly recorded videos of actors trying to apply for welfare (both were denied benefits), he still claims the system is vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

Gee, we can order drug and lie detector tests to make sure no one is “scamming” the system to get a few extra dollars’ worth of food stamps; or “enriching” themselves at taxpayer expense, even though the paltry amount of cash benefits the recipients receive keeps them well below the poverty line.

Maine’s right-wing Gov. Paul LePage declared that the videos failed to show fraud. That opinion stuns me as the governor is in lock-step with the rest of the Republican governors with their monotonous mantra of cut, cut, cut, and their intractable position of absolutely refusing to raise taxes.

Now LePage wants the DHHS to take employees who are desperately needed to deal with the ever-increasing numbers of the unemployed and working poor and task them to “rooting out abuse.”

What abuse? Where is the proof of these claims of fraud and abuse?

Sandra Jean Ford, Mexico