Published: March 12, 2009 10:54 pm      

W.Va. Farm Bureau endorses drug testing in welfare cases

CHARLESTON — Delegate Craig Blair picked up the 19,000-family-strong West Virginia Farm Bureau in support Thursday of his controversial welfare drug-testing proposal.

Bureau President Charles Wilfong described his group as one that advocates “conservative principles and values on taxes, regulation and public issues.”

“We don’t think it is a big price to pay for people who are wanting to receive public assistance to be subjected to drug tests,” Wilfong said.

Blair, R-Berkeley, has triggered a storm of controversy since offering HB3007, calling for random drug testing of new applicants for welfare, food stamps and jobless benefits.

Anyone getting such assistance now would be grandfathered in, meaning they wouldn’t be required to provide urine samples in checks for illegal narcotics.

Actually, the bureau’s public relations director, Joan Harman, told reporters, the drug testing idea was advanced by a member of that group two years ago.

Harman said the bureau backs Blair’s proposal with a clause to cut off benefits for anyone who tests positive a second time two months after an initial test.

“Our members are taxpayers, and they’re tired of their taxes going to subsidize activities that they should not be doing,” Harman said.

“This is exactly why we are involved in this issue. We are a grassroots organization. Our policy comes from the bottom up. Members are demanding action on issues of this nature.”

Another Farm Bureau official, executive director Don Michael, called Blair’s idea “a bold topic” that can make a difference in getting some West Virginians off drugs.

“We have a government that is pouring money out at people who have no sense of responsibility,” Michael said. “We think it’s time to restore some integrity in that process.”

House Judiciary Chair Carrie Webster, D-Kanawha, has indicated she has no plans to put Blair’s bill on her agenda, at least not until she hears from groups advocating for the poor.

In an interview this week, she criticized Blair for ignoring “the human factor,” especially in regard to people thrown out of work for no reason other than being caught up in a stagnant economy.

“In fact,” Blair shot back, “the human factor is what it’s all about.

“We need to make sure the public assistance system is solvent for them that truly need it.”

Blair mentioned displaced workers at Century Aluminum, Chesapeake Energy and some 3,000 others in his Eastern Panhandle district.

“This bill does not imply that everyone on public assistance is on drugs,” he insisted. “Quite the opposite. This bill assumes most people are not drug users but that those who are need help. And their children need help. The way to help them is to quit feeding their drug habit with tax dollars.”

Blair said drug-free recipients of public assistance should join his cause.

“Times are getting tough,” he said.

“We need to be able to make sure we take care of those who truly need help rather than ones who have been habitual users of our public assistance system.”