Jonathan Crimmins ( The Times Record, April 20) was mistaken in reporting one of my legislative votes. Writing about a bipartisan welfare reform bill, Mr. Crimmins said I was one of “more than 30 House members who voted against its passage.”

This is false.

This compromise welfare reform bill prohibits TANF funds from being spent on listed items such as alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets. This consensus bipartisan bill was finally passed and enacted “under the hammer,” without a division or roll call.

The sole recorded vote on this bill, Roll Call 645, was not on passage of the reform bill at all. This earlier preliminary vote was on a narrow amendment, setting penalties.

The bill as voted in committee required simple repayment for the first violation, a 3 month disqualification for a second violation, and a 6 months disqualification for additional violations. The floor amendment increased the penalties to a 3 month disqualification for a first offense, a full year for a second offense, and up to 2 years for additional violations.

The only issue on the roll call vote was choosing between these two levels of penalties. Reasonable people can differ. I happen to think the floor amendment was too harsh. TANF covers about 5,000 families at any one time, mostly single mothers with children.

Thank you for letting me correct this mistake.

Ralph Tucker

State Representative, District 50

Brunswick