Get Your Free Money!

I've always loved Matthew Lesko--you know, the nutball in the question mark suits who runs all over D.C. in cable-TV commercials hawking his books--like Free Money to Pay Your Bills!--that purport to show how to uncover piles of federal dough. (I remember seeing Lesko strolling downtown a couple of years ago sipping a cup of coffee--but still wearing that goofy suit. Seriously.) Apparently the New York Consumer Protection Board isn't as enamored of his work as I am. As Lesko points out in his new blog, the board recently issued a press release lumping him in with grant-scamming telemarketers. Lesko is, not surprisingly, apoplectic. But let's face it, his logic on the whole government giveaway thing is a little strained. Just check out the statement his co-author, Mary Ann Martello, gave to the folks in New York, in which she argues that the free bill-paying money comes in the form of--are you ready for this?--food stamps: "Matthew would say that money the government gives you to pay other bills frees up money to pay your credit bills. There is no money the government will give you to directly pay down your credit bills, but the $800 in food stamps frees up that money for other bills." Sure.