In one of the latest slap in the face to taxpayers, did you know that stimulus dollars, 6 million of them, were used to stimulate multi-millionaire and Hillary Clinton campaign pollster Mark Penn?
As for Mark Penn’s $6 million. That was pure and simple political payback. Not a job stimulus by any stretch of the imagination.
Hearken back to the last campaign. After it was clear that Hillary was not in contention, she made the statement that her campaign was in the hole for millions of dollars and that she would support Barack Obama if he would pay off her campaign debt. Well, it looks to me that this is just what happened, only I had to pay it with ‘stimulus’ dollars, not Barack Obama with his campaign dollars.
From my perspective, the only change I see that came to Washington with Obama’s election was that Chicago politics moved to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And I’m sick of it.
For an administration that SAYS they are going to be open, read bills, deliberate bills on C-Span, and make bills available online for the public to see, doesn’t it just take the cake that a bill has to be introduced to force some transparency? H.R. 4219 will open the books on the so-called job stimulus. Well, that is if it will ever see the light of day.
It’s long past time for some transparency here, before we go one step further. Time to pull the administration’s pants down and take a look.
See press release below over auditing the spending of the stimulus money, or more correctly, our money, our kids’ money, and their kid’ money.
Miller Press Release on Audit of Stimulus, December 9th, 2009
Miller, Wilson, Kingston, and Souder Demand Audit of Stimulus Funds
(Washington, D.C.) – Congressman Jeff Miller (FL-01), Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02), Congressman Jack Kingston (GA-01), and Congressman Mark Souder (IN-03) today demanded an audit of stimulus funds. Just this morning, reports showed that Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster, received $6 million in stimulus money to preserve three jobs. Furthermore, the Administration still hasn’t thoroughly addressed the major discrepancies and inaccuracies of reporting on Recovery.gov. With the Government Accountability Office stating that one out of every 10 jobs created by the stimulus are also fake, it’s high time for Congress to act. The National Commission on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will create a bipartisan commission to investigate the effects of this “stimulus” bill.
Congressman Jeff Miller: “In my home state of Florida 52 jobs were created in the 34th Congressional District, according to the Recovery.gov website. 46 jobs were created in District 00. However, these districts simply don’t exist. How can the Administration expect us to trust their dubious jobs created numbers when they can’t even manage their own website? We need an audit of this spending immediately.”
Congressman Joe Wilson: “It’s time for Congress to demand answers on behalf of the hardworking taxpayers that we represent. The misnamed stimulus is one of the largest spending bills in our nation’s history and it is critical that American taxpayers receive adequate answers as to the whereabouts of stimulus funds. I can not fathom how Hillary Clinton’s pollster received $6 million to preserve just three jobs when that could sustain dozens of South Carolina’s families for life. I urge Speaker Pelosi to consider our legislation to ensure full accountability of every stimulus dollar spent.”
Congressman Jack Kingston: “What do you get for $18 million? The Obama Administration’s website that creates phony congressional districts and fishy jobs numbers. It’s time to pull back the curtain and get some of that transparency and accountability promised on the campaign trail. Until this Administration can provide the American people with an accurate accounting of their record breaking spending scheme, Congress should dry out the trough.”
Congressman Mark Souder: “Not only has the stimulus failed in its goal of reining in rising unemployment, the published report tracking the funds revealed imprecise statistics, nonexistent congressional districts and significantly overstated the number of jobs created. I am pleased to join Congressman Joe Wilson on this important legislation to put an end to this unaccountable stimulus spending spree. During this time of economic recession, Hoosier taxpayers deserve to know where and how their dollars are being spent.”
H.R. 4219, the National Commission on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (text can be found here) will create a ten member panel, appointed by the President and Democrat and Republican leaders in the House and Senate, will investigate how many jobs have actually been saved or created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5); the circumstances in which those jobs have been saved or created; and, the effectiveness of measures taken to prevent the improper payment of funds. Following the investigation, the Commission will make recommendations on what changes could be made to save or create more jobs and what steps can be taken to prevent the improper allocation of taxpayer dollars.
