How Cheaters Could Ruin It for Everyone : Three-day waiting period for food aid is sad, but necessary

President Clinton is right to want federal emergency aid--including food stamps--to get to earthquake victims as quickly as possible. Washington’s comparatively speedy mobilization is welcome, as is its corrective attention to the problems resulting from a powerful earthquake in a heavily populated city and an unprecedented demand for government assistance.

The most recent frustration--fraudulent claims for food stamps--has swollen lines and tempers at county welfare offices.

More than 45,000 people have sought the emergency food coupons since Monday. While most truly need food, the lines include those who seek to exploit the government’s compassion and even to intimidate county workers.

This mess has prompted the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to seek federal permission to buy a little time to certify claims. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the government food programs, agreed to allow county workers a three-day processing period to verify need. That waiting period will take effect today.

The new 72-hour safeguard is expected to scare away many dishonest applicants, thus reducing the lines. Local authorities and federal inspectors are also visiting welfare offices to discourage phony claims.

Prosecutors plan to pursue charges against ineligible food stamp recipients, including those who have received multiple allotments from different locations. Many will be arrested when the county’s computerized system sorts the information, and they will face fines of up to $250,000 and prison terms as long as 20 years. The book should be thrown at the greedy criminals who are penalizing the real victims and eroding the taxpayers’ trust.

If taxpayers start to believe federal disaster relief has turned into a fraudulent giveaway, Congress--being pressed by the Administration to act before its February recess--may be reluctant to approve the $6.6-billion supplemental aid package urgently needed by Southern California. Votes surely would be lost if the fraud was unchecked.

The new three-day wait for food stamps replaces the more compassionate emergency procedure that allowed Mississippi River flood victims to simply show a driver’s license or photo identification card as proof of residence and attest to their low income and losses. Those applicants typically received the food stamps on the day they applied. That approach, which replaced the customary and lengthy food stamp verification process, works best in less populated areas where people tend to know one another. Unfortunately, the honor system has not worked universally in Los Angeles.

Hungry families who suffered because of the earthquake should not have to wait another single day for food. Already victimized by the temblor, they now are victimized by dishonest neighbors.

The new safeguard in the emergency food stamp program is unavoidable in the current unruly climate. But it’s a shame that federal and local officials who are working without pause to help thousands must be plagued by a relative handful of vultures who are abusing government’s helping hand.