With the U.S. Census ready to begin, Congressional redistricting is right around the corner. However, it seems the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has already added ten new Congressional districts in Ohio.
Over $5 billion of stimulus money has seen its way into the State of Ohio thanks to the federal stimulus. The main goal of the money is to create or retain jobs and stimulate the economy in Ohio. According to www.recovery.gov more than 17,00 jobs have been created or retained, 11 of which are in Congressional Districts that do not exist: 21st, 99th, 69th, 87th, 85th, 49th, 20th, 54th, 56th, and 00. These 11 jobs have cost more than $5.3 million; more than 80% of the jobs created or retained so far are located in the Central Ohio area.
To read more about this story and more controversial stimulus funding, please visit Ohio Watchdog or click here.
The goal of Ohio Watchdog is to investigate and inform Ohioans about political waste, fraud, abuse, and ethical questions involving the use of taxpayer dollars. Ohio Watchdog includes investigative stories, video interviews, an interactive blog allowing for public input and special contact information offering whistle blowers confidentiality in disclosing government waste and misconduct.
[press release submitted to DarkeJournal by ohiowatchdog.org]
It would seem that these phantom congressional districts should each have a phantom congressman. I'm sure that there would be a slew of applicants, especially if it was publicized that by merely serving for two years a retirement of $15,000 per month would be vested.
ReplyDeleteSounds like change we all can believe in.....
ReplyDelete11 jobs for $5.3 million. We could have simply given 11 people $35k/yr for 10 years and been money ahead. I'm not big on welfare, but it would make more sense to just GIVE people money while waiting for the economy to recover - something it would do on its own as part of the natural cycle. But hey, it's the government, and they over pay for everything.
ReplyDelete