Sen. Brown slams costly push to register welfare recipients as politically motivated

FILE: May 2, 2012: Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. speaks at Bunker Hill Community College in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. (AP)

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown slammed his own state for spending $275,000 on what he described as a politically motivated push to send voter registration letters to people on welfare.

According to MyFoxBoston.com, the state is spending the money to send the letters to nearly 500,000 people on welfare, in response to a suit claiming the law requires welfare recipients be offered the chance to register when they sign up.

But Brown, a Republican running against Democrat Elizabeth Warren, called the move "outrageous" and a "special effort to boost one political party over another" -- specifically, to boost Warren.

One of the plaintiffs in the original suit is a nonprofit in which Warren's daughter is chairwoman of the trustees board, according to MyFoxBoston.com.

"For Prof. Warren's daughter to be head of an organization that's actually using taxpayer monies to get people on welfare out to vote ... it just doesn't pass the smell test," Brown said in a statement.

But Warren's campaign called Brown's claim "bizarre," and said the mailings are "just about compliance with the law."

The nonprofit group, Demos, also reportedly said they "completely reject" the claim the mailings and lawsuit are politically motivated.

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