Lawbreaking and resource misuse in public assistance programs receive ample popular and political attention. The bulk of this attention focuses on alleged abuses on the part of programs’ clients. This Essay addresses a less-publicized issue: illegal actions on the part of public officials that deprive citizens of resources to which they would otherwise have access. When such actions function to benefit government treasuries, they constitute stategraft.
This Essay focuses on episodes of stategraft in two contexts: state and local officials using public assistance money in ways that violate the spirit or letter of federal law and eligibility determination and rule enforcement interventions that result in improper benefit denials or program disqualifications. Examples in both categories demonstrate the operation of preemptive stategraft, in which officials supplement government budgets through failure to transfer resources that should have flowed to individuals and families.
