Denver socialist says stealing food stamps actually ‘qualifies’ her to be mayor

BS BULLETIN:

Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis says her 2008 conviction involving the theft of public food-stamp benefits helps qualify her to become mayor.
Lewis was working at a government food-stamp office when authorities accused her of improperly reissuing EBT cards for herself and her roommate.
When interviewer Kyle Clark noted that plenty of people endure terrible financial circumstances without stealing taxpayer money, Lewis agreed.

This may be the most unconventional qualification listed by a candidate for public office this year.

Denver City Councilwoman and Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate Shontel Lewis says her criminal conviction for stealing public benefits shouldn’t disqualify her from running the city.

She says the experience actually helps qualify her.

Lewis was questioned about the 2008 case during an interview with 9NEWS Denver’s Kyle Clark, who asked what she would tell voters who believe a conviction involving public money should be disqualifying for someone seeking control of city government.

Lewis didn’t dodge it.

“I actually think that experience is what actually qualifies me,” she said.

Lewis explained that she was a young mother, grieving and struggling financially at the time. She described what she did as “really silly,” while emphasizing that she paid restitution, served her sentence and experienced firsthand “all the ills of poverty.”

But this wasn’t simply a case of someone improperly obtaining benefits.

Lewis was working at Colorado’s Department of Human Services East Food Stamp Office.

According to reporting on the case, investigators accused Lewis of using access provided by her government job to find accounts containing unused benefits and reissue EBT cards. The cards were then used by Lewis and her roommate for food and cash benefits.

Lewis ultimately pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft, received 18 months of probation and paid restitution.

Then Clark asked the question that made the exchange considerably more uncomfortable. He pointed out that plenty of people find themselves in terrible circumstances and don’t steal from taxpayers.

“Absolutely,” Lewis acknowledged.

Lewis’s argument is that experiencing poverty — including making a serious mistake while struggling through it — gives her insight into the desperation some Denver residents experience.

She said that nearly two decades later she is running for mayor because she doesn’t want those conditions to exist for other people.

Lewis currently represents District 8 on the Denver City Council and is among a crowded field challenging Mayor Mike Johnston. The mayoral election is scheduled for next April.

She has also received the backing of the Denver chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. And that makes her unusual answer more than merely a viral campaign moment.

Lewis is essentially asking Denver voters to consider whether personal experience with poverty — including her own criminal conduct while administering a public-benefits program — should be viewed as evidence that she better understands the people and government programs she wants to oversee.

MY QUICK TAKE

There actually is a serious political argument Lewis could make here: I screwed up badly when I was young, accepted the consequences, rebuilt my life and eventually became an elected official.

America loves redemption stories.

But saying stealing taxpayer-funded benefits qualifies you to oversee taxpayer money is where the political train leaves the tracks.

And Kyle Clark found the weakness in about ten seconds. Poverty may explain desperation. It doesn’t explain why one struggling person steals while another struggling person doesn’t.

That’s an important distinction because government can’t build policy around the premise that bad circumstances erase individual agency.

Lewis deserves to be judged on everything she’s done in the nearly two decades since her conviction. But experience with government programs is one qualification for mayor. Experience stealing from one probably shouldn’t go on the résumé.