There used to be a lady in Scarborough nicknamed Crazy Aunt Bibi. She had a lot of causes, and a lot of friends, but sometimes when she got on one of her crusades, she could be like a little dog on a terrycloth bathrobe. Grrrrrrr! Wouldn’t let go.

One of her topics was jaywalkers.

I thought of Aunt Bibi this week when I heard, again, Governor LePage on his now-favorite fixation – people on welfare.

Aunt Bibi would sit at the traffic light at the Oak Hill intersection in 04074 land and watch SHS kids cross Route 1 against the red lights. “That is illegal! Someone is going to hit them! The police and ambulance will have to get involved!,” she would say.

Her concerns were valid, but as our mutual friend, former state Rep. and motel owner Vern Lent said once, “She was right, over and over and over and over…”

The governor is now earning that same label.

(“Joey One Note,” as former Gov. McKernan said of former Gov. Brennan when they faced off in l990 and Brennan fixated on the budget deficit. (McKernan won).

I understand people buy stuff with food stamps they shouldn’t. I stand in the same checkout lines in Hannaford you do.

I also understand we, ideally, don’t want people using their electronic cash cards at cigar stores or liquor stores and then, possibly, using the cash for booze or smokes.

But, my heavens, Governor Joey One Note!

Like Aunt Bibi, my response is becoming: You have a good point. But your concern for the issue appears to be “disproportionate.” And your constant dealings on this topic prevent you from spending time and focus on other issues.

Let’s say food-stamp fraud or people using their EBT cards to get cash to buy a pack of Camel unfiltereds costs the state $100,000 or $500,000 or even a $l million.

Do you have any idea what the state loses annually in, e.g., contractor fraud? Or what the state pays for in bottled water for employees when most of us would say faucet water would do.

I know people in business. Some are contractors. Some are delivery services. Some are in communications. All bid on state jobs. All get awarded contracts. All end up having their work reviewed, and their bills audited. Most inevitably have the state ask them questions about money. A couple times a year, one of them, basically, tells the state, OK, perhaps we over-billed, or purchased supplies for the job not needed. They write the state a check.

The checks, by the way, are for amounts more than a l-pound lobster purchased with food stamps.

And for every situation where a business refunds money to the state, there might be another in which no such overpayment is discovered, or remedied.

These situations involve more money than 10 welfare defrauders, or 510, buying a six of Pabst. But public concern is less.

The Governor’s questions are valid. His concerns are real.

There is political gain in banging on welfare recipients in public (in l984, my first cheap Quixotic bill upon being elected to the Maine House of Representatives was legislation requiring welfare recipients to work at a town job upon request of the town).

I was 26, Governor, and didn’t know better.

What’s your excuse?

Dan Warren is a lawyer in Scarborough and can be reached by private Facebook message at Jones & Warren Attorneys at Law Facebook page.