Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Barack Obama once claimed to have visited 57 American states.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that his administration is boasting of creating jobs with stimulus money in congressional districts that don't even exist.
In Iowa, reveals one Internet blogger, "there are still only five congressional districts, not the 13 listed by the White House" on stimulus-tracking Web site www.recovery.gov.
Arizona, the White House's Web site says, got new stimulus-created jobs in its 15th congressional district. The problem: The state has eight congressional districts.
In South Carolina, according to www.recovery.gov, stimulus money created jobs in congressional districts 00 and 25. In the real world, the state has six congressional districts.
Says ABC News: "In Connecticut's 42nd district (which also does not exist), the Web site claims 25 jobs created with zero stimulus dollars."
Your tax dollars at work as never before! Just imagine how many jobs they could have created in that district with, oh, five bucks!
The fraud is sweeping, both in its geography and its audacity. According to ABC News, the Obama administration is claiming stimulus money created jobs in these fictitious political districts:
- $68.3 million spent and 72.2 million spent in the 1st congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- $8.4 million spent and 40.3 jobs created in the 99th congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- $1.5 million spent and .3 jobs created in the 69th district and $35 million for 142 jobs in the 99th district of the Northern Mariana Islands.
- $47.7 million spent and 291 jobs created in Puerto Rico's 99th congressional district.
Think about that for a moment. The White House is claiming that, together, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands account for nearly 200 of the House of Representatives' 435 members. If you fold in Puerto Rico, that's about 300 of the House's 435 members.
That doesn't leave much room for the country's actual 57 states, does it?
The Obama administration blames the job-reporting sources. OK, let's look at that.
First off, you could certainly expect some mistakes to occur -- perhaps in addition. But these "mistakes" -- creating congressional districts that don't exist -- seem so intentional and widespread that it smacks of a conspiracy.
Secondly, how could the Obama administration just blindly report the existence of congressional districts that don't exist?
It's not just a matter of knowing how many congressional districts there are in each state. One could almost excuse that. But the Obama administration is claiming there are at least 99 congressional districts in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Even if U.S. territories had congressmen, which they don't, wouldn't someone employed at the White House have questioned why the Virgin Islands had more congressional districts than California's 53?
Oh, wait. According to recovery.gov, California has 60 districts.
This is either sweeping, world-class ignorance in the White House -- or it's fraud. You pick. Either option is as unsavory as the other.
So will there be accountability? Will the White House track down where those millions and millions of dollars really went?
Don't hold your breath. Here's the verbal shrug-of-the-shoulder coming from the White House: "Some (stimulus money) recipients clearly don't know what congressional district they live in, so they appear to be just throwing in any number. We expected all along that recipients would make mistakes on their congressional districts, on jobs numbers, on award amounts, and so on. Human beings make mistakes."
In other words, no big whoop. We expected these burps.
Besides, it's not their money. It's yours. And there's a stimulus package to defend, so keep those fake numbers rolling in folks!
This is the same government that wants to manage your health care.
When you look at all the fraudulent numbers coming from fake congressional districts all across the fruited plain, it's nearly impossible to chalk it up to innocent mistakes. This looks like an intentional pattern to lie to the American people.
"The attempts to cover up the dismal failure of the president's trillion-dollar stimulus have gone from comical to embarrassing," says Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.
The $787 billion "stimulus" bill, which has only seen unemployment rise, has been a massive failure. But it may have been only a colossal mistake.
The attempt to cover up that mistake seems to be no accident.
