The Virginian-Pilot
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Anyone checking the federal government Web site that tracks stimulus money will find that Virginia's 12th Congressional District got more than $2 million.
One tiny problem: Virginia only has 11 districts.
Where is the 12th, and maybe more important, where is the money?
And for that matter, where are the commonwealth's 26th, 51st and 98th districts? All are noted as having been awarded stimulus funds, according to Recovery.gov, a federal site set up so that taxpayers can see where hundreds of billions are being spent.
In all, the site reports that Virginia has 23 congressional districts that are to receive a total of $3.4 billion in stimulus-funded contracts, grants or loans.
About $6.7 million was reportedly awarded in districts that don't exist.
The site also says the federal infusion will create or save 8,617 jobs in Virginia - including 34 in phantom districts.
Similar problems show up in reports on several other states.
North Carolina, for example, has 13 congressional districts, but Recovery.gov reports that stimulus funds went to 19 districts, including one labeled "OO Congressional District."
Edward Pound, a spokesman for The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, said Tuesday that federal officials are confident the total dollar amount allotted to Virginia and other states is accurate.
But the congressional district totals are a reporting error, Pound said.
They don't know how many other states have such errors.
"Our guys are analyzing it," Pound said. "We're going to have to figure out how many there are. See what we come up within the next couple of days."
Until the problem is resolved, Recovery.gov can't be confident that it's listings for congressional districts are correct, he said.
The agency has traced the problem to the online forms filled out by every organization getting stimulus money. The forms require the recipients to select the correct congressional district from a generic drop-down list.
While people may have mistakenly selected the incorrect district, it would be impossible for the total amount of money allocated to each state to be wrong, Pound said. "They can't cross state boundaries" in filing their reports, he said.
There's no question that Virginia groups were awarded $3.4 billion, he said. But how the money is divided among the congressional districts is still hazy.
"It's definitely a story," Pound said.
In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Va., said:
"The American people deserve an honest accounting of where their tax dollars are going, and how many real jobs are being created. The Administration needs to take immediate action to correct the errors on Recovery.gov, and provide a full, transparent report of how every dollar has been spent."
Bill Bartel, (757) 446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com
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And we want these people to manage healthcare?
I guess they are living up to their incompetence. Just as they have sent millions of dollars to phantom districts, one wonders how many "phantom entities" these people have sent millions to in regard to Medicaid and Medicare.
ACORN
Someone should check to see if there is an Acorn office in these districts. ( This is meant to be sarcastic)
voter fraud?
I wonder how many people in these made up districts voted in Obama and his cronies.
RE: pLamastra 's comment
Just in case you didn't realize it --- blacks are included in the figures! Last time I checked they were a part of the countries citizens, as are Asians, Latino's and others. You figures are as bogus as your rationale.
jobs created
In addition to the phantom Congressional districts many localities seem to be rounding up when estimating the number of jobs created or saved. Example: the purchase of a single lawnmower created 50 (FIFTY) jobs. Incidentally, my source for this is not "Faux News" as some of you like to call the highest-rated cable news network. It was the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/us/05stimulus.html).
It also appears that Head Start programs claimed to have saved 8000 jobs when in fact they used the money to provide raises, admitting they probably wouldn't have laid anybody off had they not gotten the stimulus money.
Interestingly, I've found no cases where a locality had to revise its saved / created jobs figure UP. The issue appears to be that some people want so badly to "prove" the stimulus package worked that they're giving in to the temptation to overestimate its effectiveness. That's about as charitably as I can put it.
Oh well. At least the stimulus bill prevented the unemployment rate from topping the 8% ceiling, just like President Obama promised.
And.....
Why is very little being said about the black unemployment rate?
Associated Press 11/18/09
"The nationwide unemployment rate is 10.2 percent. For blacks, it's 15.7 percent and for Latinos, 13.1 percent."
Addendum
It's a mystery?
"two years ago, the black unemployment rate was 8.9 percent compared to the national rate of 4.9 percent"
Let's keep some perspective
I want a thorough accounting of where the stimulus dollars have gone as much as anyone, but I also realize that 6.7 million out of 3.4 BILLION is a drop in the bucket. This is most likely a stupid error made by local government workers.
I'd like to hear a little more outrage over the 23 BILLION, give or take, that was lost in Iraq: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7444083.stm
The bank bailouts passed under Bush and Obama have misplaced tens of billions of dollars as well.
Let's demand transparency on the stimulus money, but let's also maintain a sense of perspective here.
A cure that will never happen
Put an enforcement arm onto the Government Accounting Office with full prosecutorial authority to bring cases of fraudulent government spending to trial. Have those in government that are convicted lose any and all government benefits and be sentenced to terms in prison directly related to how much they ripped off or directed to companies falsely. Congress and the Senate would never allow it to happen: too many of their pork projects would get killed along with kick backs to their favorite lobbyists. A number of them would probably end up in prison too.
Why?
Why wasn't all of these comments raised when the economy was sinking and we entered an illegal war where thousands of men and women lost their lives? Oh! I see, Obama wasn't President. We would rather comment about paperwork that hasn't been completed than a war where lives are being lost. You'll find that this is much to do about nothing.