[Editor’s note: This op-ed from Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton responds to a Feb. 15 Boston Herald report by Tim Dunn detailing whistleblower allegations of widespread SNAP-EBT fraud within the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance. The department disputed the allegations and said fraud in the program is rare.]

I didn’t just read Sunday’s Boston Herald exposé on “rampant” SNAP fraud as a taxpayer or a candidate for U.S. Senate. I read it as a kid who grew up on food stamps.

I know what it feels like to rely on that card to eat. I know the thin line between a full stomach and a hungry night. When a whistleblower reveals that fraud rings “steal unabated” millions in benefits — spending funds out of state while legitimate recipients find their cards empty — it isn’t just a “budget leak.” It is a gut-wrenching betrayal of the most vulnerable children in our Commonwealth.

Fraud doesn’t just steal from taxpayers; it steals from the kid I used to be. It starves the very families the program was designed to help.

The whistleblower’s details are damning: managers pressure staff to “tread lightly” on vetting, leadership downplays $12 million in uncovered fraud, and unchecked illegal immigration fuels a surge in abuse of the system. Yet while the Department of Transitional Assistance claims fraud is “rare,” officials refuse to share data with the USDA.

This culture of secrecy starts at the top. Attorney General Andrea Campbell calls the effort to audit the Legislature a “ploy,” yet she stands by while officials block the state’s own auditor. This isn’t about “separation of powers”; it’s about leaders refusing accountability for a system they have clearly broken.

That is why 28 fellow taxpayers and I filed a lawsuit last week to enforce the 72% voter mandate for a legislative audit. We also call for a “DAT Squeeze” (Democratic Accountability & Transparency Squeeze) — a targeted federal freeze on nonessential, nonemergency discretionary state grants — until Beacon Hill stops spending public money on private lawyers to block transparency and opens the books.

We have carefully shielded essential funding such as SNAP and Medicaid from this freeze. Our goal is to protect the program, not punish the poor. But we cannot protect what officials refuse to show us.

Beacon Hill’s obstruction enables scammers and hurts the needy. It’s time to stop the rallies, stop the excuses, and honor democracy by allowing the audit.

Taxpayers and the kids who rely on SNAP both deserve a system that works for them — not for fraud rings.

John Deaton is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. He is a U.S. Marine veteran and the lead plaintiff in the case Deaton et al. v. Clerk of the House.