To the Editor,

Lonnie Barham has done a great service for the taxpayers of Rhode Island. He has exposed what appears to be Governor McKee’s plan to convert monies allocated to help the homeless into a kind of perpetual political patronage slush fund.(“Addressing homeless problem the wrong way”, Jan. 26)

Caring for the poor in Rhode Island has become a multimillion dollar industry. It is not surprising that government bureaucrats would seize an opportunity to expand their influence in that enterprise.

As Mr. Barham points out, McKee’s plan would siphon off a portion of the federal ARPA funds designated to reduce homelessness ($28M out of $182M according to numbers put forth by the Governor’s office). The McKee plan would use that money to build a bigger state government.

Mr. Barham shows us the folly of thinking that government can operate as efficiently as the private sector. He demonstrates how money intended to help the homeless will end up in the paychecks of state employees at the newly formed RI Department of Housing.

The Governor’s proposal would grow the size, scope and cost of state government under the guise of helping the homeless. It’s a cynical move, but for power-hungry politicians, it makes perfect sense.

Thanks to Lonnie Barham for opening our eyes to this egregious misuse of taxpayer funds.

A. H. Liddle

Warwick