Economy Alarm: "Stimulus" Money Being Used to Print Pamphlet

“Stimulus” Money Being Used to Print Pamphlet

$120K Intended to Create Jobs Used for Printing Costs

Democrats promised project would “improve the quality of life for residents in the area,” and “will create jobs”:

“The $120,000 in economic stimulus money set aside for Onondaga Lake will ‘improve the quality of life for residents in the area,’ U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said last month. At the same time, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., predicted the lake project ‘will create jobs across the region and promote long-term economic growth.'”

Credibility Crash: “None of it was true – except for the amount of taxpayer money involved.”

“The $120,000 will not rebuild infrastructure. It will not build anything. It won’t even clean up a single drop of the polluted lake.

“The money — included in the $4.6 billion in federal stimulus funds headed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — will pay to print a pamphlet about the lake cleanup, Army Corps officials say. Even then, the ‘State of the Lake’ report won’t be completely new, according to Lynn Greer, the Onondaga Lake outreach coordinator for the Buffalo District of the Army Corps of Engineers.

“The federal money will pay to update and reprint a 16-page color pamphlet from 2001, which updated the original version published in 1992.

“When asked about the announcement by New York’s two U.S. senators referring to a job-creating infrastructure project, Greer said, ‘That’s not completely accurate.’

“Greer said the money was never intended for infrastructure, and it was set aside for a budget that includes Army Corps of Engineers studies and investigations.” (“$120,000 in federal stimulus for Onondaga Lake cleanup used to print pamphlet,” Syracuse Post Standard, 05/31/2009)

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Read the full story: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/120000_in_federal_stimulus_mon.html

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