Advocates for domestic violence victims and Utah Attorney General Jan Graham called on two state senators to apologize Friday for saying that women on welfare would take a beating to extend their public assistance payments.
"I think this is a sad day, a sad day for our community," Graham said. "We have two elected leaders who somehow don't understand the reality of violence and abuse in the family."Graham spoke at a new conference YWCA Executive Director Susan Sheehan called Friday to express "shock and concern" about comments Sen. Lorin Jones, R-St. George, and Parley Hellewell, R-Orem, made this week. About 25 women, some abuse victims themselves, also attended.
The legislators suggested in a Workforce Services Interim Committee meeting Wednesday that women facing the prospect of losing public aid could ask their partners to beat them up. The comments came during a discussion on a proposed bill to extend welfare benefits for abuse victims beyond a state-imposed three-year limit. Workforce Services officials say some women might need help beyond the Dec. 31 deadline.
"If these comments were actually made, they are outrageous and deeply troubling," Sheehan said. "I have to wonder what these two lawmakers have observed or experienced to cause them to have such a deeply ingrained cynicism about fellow human beings and women in particular."
Sheehan said Jones and Hellewell owe Utah and abuse victims an apology. She also invited them to learn more about domestic violence "so that their hearts are not so hardened" to those who live in different circumstances than they do.
Both senators Friday stood by their belief that women could resort to an intentional black eye to stay on welfare.
"I think that's a reasonable assumption," Jones said. "When people are destitute, they do desperate things."
Jones did concede that his remarks were "probably a poor choice of words."
Hellewell was a little more reflective in his thoughts but also held fast to his earlier remarks.
"I do apologize if I offended anybody but I believe they misunderstood. If that's what I said -- that women are out doing that -- I definitely need to apologize. But I didn't say that," he said.
"I can understand why they could be upset. I think they're being naive when they don't admit that it could happen," Hellewell said. "I don't know why they think women on welfare are immune from fraud."
Jones and Hellewell are also drawing fire from constituents in their home districts.
"I was outraged. I thought it was the most illogical, insensitive . . . I don't know. I just can't believe someone would honestly say that," said Darren Hawkins, an Orem resident and Brigham Young University political science professor who is studying domestic violence worldwide.
Hellewell said all he and Jones were trying to say is that legislators need to watch public assistance programs and ensure abuse doesn't occur.
Advocates for battered women acknowledge welfare fraud happens but not in the form the two senators are suggesting
Shelley White, director of YWCA women's shelter director, said she has never met a woman who took a bruise to stay on welfare. The YWCA counsels about 1,500 abused women each year.
State law allows no more than 20 percent or about 2,000 welfare recipients to extend their benefits beyond the three-year limit. Workforce Services proposed legislation that separated abuse victims from that pool, essentially creating space for more people to retain public assistance. Officials estimated the "family violence option" would cover about 50 families.
Jones and Hellewell, who both say they have an understanding of domestic violence and see it as a serious problem, said the proposed change isn't necessary because the state is nowhere near the 20 percent mark. The Workforce Services Interim Committee took no action on the proposed legislation.
Studies show that beatings worsen when women seek to become employed or self-sufficient, Sheehan said. The most lethal time in an abusive relationship is when a woman seeks to end it. Domestic violence is the leading cause of murder in Utah, she said.
"What was being proposed by Workforce Services was simply to acknowledge that her life safety should be considered when defining her self-sufficiency plan," she said. "This was a humane proposal met with a very callous and inhumane response."