OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington lawmaker has been drawing thousands of dollars in disability payments each year while leading efforts to eliminate benefits the state provides to others.
Records released under public records laws show Republican Sen. Joseph Zarelli gets $601 a month from the federal government, indicating that he is considered 40 percent disabled.
Zarelli said the payments he gets are far different than the benefits provided in the state programs he’s targeting for cuts, in part because he suffered his injury on the job. He said the people in the state system were making poor lifestyle choices, such as drug and alcohol addiction. The state programs provide health care and non-cash assistance to thousands of people.
Zarelli’s proposal is one of the main sticking points remaining in the Legislature’s budget debate.
