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Rep. Issa: Inspector General Agrees, Stimulus Signs Inappropriate (PJM Exclusive)
Pajamas Media ^ | August 12, 2010 | Patrick Richardson

Posted on 08/12/2010 1:58:23 PM PDT by jazusamo

A couple of months ago, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Earl Devaney — chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board — demanding an investigation into the cost of signs touting the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

One of those signs at Dulles International Airport cost taxpayers $10,000.

On Monday, the Washington Times reported that the inspector general tasked with investigating those signs — and the language requiring the use of those signs in nine Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs — has returned a report.

An ARRA sign in Washington (Rep. Darrell Issa's office.)

PJM reported back on July 5 that language in HUD documentation seemed to require the use of the signs, which Issa and others have termed “propaganda.”

The IG’s report states that while language requiring the use of the signs was removed from agency-wide guidance issued by HUD, the language was still pressuring:

The language used in the published guidance states that it is not a HUD requirement to post signs, [but] the tone and other information (such as examples of sign templates) were clear indicators that posting signs was preferred. Further, an earlier e-mail from the Deputy Press Secretary stated that the posting of signs was highly recommended.

Issa said this is a clear indicator the IG has agreed with his position on the signage and that the language is a “veiled threat.” The language “highly recommended” all but forces contractors to put up the signs, he said:

It’s as close to an order to do it or not get funds as you can get.

Getting the first IG report back is a start, Issa said, but he doesn’t expect any major changes out of this:

It doesn’t change a thing, just gives us an answer, which is more than we get sometimes from the administration. … You know when you’re in the minority and the administration doesn’t have to listen to you, the most that you can really do is try to convince them of the error of their ways. … In this case overtly political, bordering on illegal if not illegal propaganda is behavior we’d like to see changed. The most important thing we’re trying to do is to get the administration’s recognition that what might go on in Chicago and what might go on in the private sector, for that matter, is inappropriate and illegal in the public sector.

Issa spokesman Seamus Kraft concurred:

Robert Gibbs when he was asked about these signs in a press conference said these are transparency provisions and we are being transparent in how we’re spending stimulus money. … And that’s a pretty weak leg to stand on, and this completely kicks out that leg because this is an independent watchdog within the Obama administration ratifying our premise that these signs are being put up, whether implicitly or explicitly, to remind voters that Barack Obama is the one spending their money and as Mr. Issa said, that’s illegal.

This is just an in-your-face sign of the way the Obama administration does business. And as we know, it’s doing that business with other people’s money.

Issa believes the signs are overtly political and aimed at the November midterms. He wants it to be clear they are misleading:

No one item changes the voters’ minds, but the idea that when they see these recovery signs that are very often placed on what taxpayers have paid other money for … you have a large amount of signs — and those signs are very positive to the Obama midterm reelection.

Issa also notes the value of the signs far outweighs the actual cost. The placement of some of the signs would be worth tens of thousands of dollars a month if used as advertising billboards — including the $10,000 sign at Dulles and another on Interstate 395 around Washington, D.C.

In both cases, Issa said, the signs have been up for months with no work done:

The real problem for the voters to understand is these signs are worth hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising value.

Issa further said the various inspectors general have gotten fairly good cooperation in this investigation, but that’s by no means a given.

Issa said House Republicans have had to push and prod to get subpoena power for inspectors general. Currently only IGs in the Department of Defense have the power to issue subpoenas:

It’s not past the Senate yet. … In most cases they get cooperation, but when they don’t they’re pretty powerless.

Estimates of the total cost to the taxpayers for the signs range from a few million to tens of millions of dollars, and Issa has requested a total cost of the signs — which Rep. Aaron Schock termed “the height of narcissism” in July. Issa does not, however, think that cost will ever be known due to a number of factors, including prices which vary wildly from state to state:

We’ll probably never have a total accounting.

Patrick Richardson is a 12 year veteran of the community newspaper business. He is that rare bird, the conservative journalist. Living his whole life in Kansas, he has come to appreciate the conservative values of hard work, honesty and honor. Patrick blogs at View from Flyover Country .



TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: democrats; issa; obama; stimulussigns
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1 posted on 08/12/2010 1:58:26 PM PDT by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo

I want my money back.


2 posted on 08/12/2010 2:00:16 PM PDT by dalebert
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To: dalebert
I want my money back.

Really? I want heads on pikes.

3 posted on 08/12/2010 2:01:41 PM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: jazusamo

Those signs are all over the roadways in Michigan and Ohio—mostly where construction is slowing down traffic and causing problems for months at a time.


4 posted on 08/12/2010 2:01:49 PM PDT by madison10
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To: dalebert
Yep, I meant to highlight the cost of these signs in the article and forgot, here it is:

Estimates of the total cost to the taxpayers for the signs range from a few million to tens of millions of dollars

5 posted on 08/12/2010 2:06:00 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: Lurker

Maybe one head on a pike by each large sign!


6 posted on 08/12/2010 2:07:30 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

guess we should copy this and send it to everyone in DC so they know we know..somebody got rich off of signs alone..some crook giving kickbacks.


7 posted on 08/12/2010 2:07:49 PM PDT by dalebert
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To: jazusamo

Obama gave his “Recovery” speech last week at the signmaker’s facility. Some stimulus...


8 posted on 08/12/2010 2:12:44 PM PDT by SueRae (I can see November from my HOUSE!)
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To: jazusamo

Every time I see one of those signs, and I’ve seen about 7-8 at this point, I get pissed off. What a frigging waste of money.


9 posted on 08/12/2010 2:15:58 PM PDT by psjones (u)
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To: jazusamo
I took this at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, AK about 2 weeks ago. As far as I could tell the only money spent there recently was on this sign.


10 posted on 08/12/2010 2:16:02 PM PDT by South40 ("Islam has a long tradition of tolerance." ~Hussein Obama, June 4, 2009, Cairo, Egypt)
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To: South40

Thanks for posting your pic, that shows just what a rip off this sign program is.


11 posted on 08/12/2010 2:18:24 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: dalebert

I wish someone would put up signs right next to them that says, “This sign costs $10,000 and was paid for with your tax dollars.”


12 posted on 08/12/2010 2:19:39 PM PDT by VA_Gentleman ("Poor Al Gore. Global warming completely debunked via the very internet you invented." -Jon Stewart)
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To: jazusamo

I took that pic thinking I would post it on FR one day. Thanks for providing me with that opportunity. :-)


13 posted on 08/12/2010 2:31:00 PM PDT by South40 ("Islam has a long tradition of tolerance." ~Hussein Obama, June 4, 2009, Cairo, Egypt)
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To: Lurker; dalebert
I want my money back.

Really? I want heads on pikes.

That's where I start, and then the punishment begins...


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

14 posted on 08/12/2010 2:36:15 PM PDT by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
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To: South40
...looks like a road to nowhere.....

0bamacamp site perhaps....?

15 posted on 08/12/2010 2:38:28 PM PDT by spokeshave (mess + 0bama = quagmire recession)
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To: South40

Time to get creative with these signs with some spray paint.


16 posted on 08/12/2010 2:45:04 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares ( Refusing to kneel before the "messiah".)
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To: jazusamo

The town I drive through on the way to work every day has these signs. They are jack hammering up all the corner wheelchair ramps, that had nothing wrong with them and redoing them and also carving square strips out of the asphalt road, also with nothing wrong with them and then repaving the patches. What a waste of our money. Seems like tho old Pay one guy to dig a ditch we don’t need and pay another guy to fill it just to give jobs. Meanwhile the freeways in Los Angeles area are in horrible shape because all the gas tax money for many years that was mandated for road maintenance was frivously wasted on social programs. The politicians (crooks) need to go to jail!


17 posted on 08/12/2010 2:53:25 PM PDT by kaizen
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To: South40

Thank you, South40!

You took some great pics!

:)


18 posted on 08/12/2010 3:37:34 PM PDT by onyx (Sarah/Michele 2012)
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To: The Comedian

LOL. But you;re right. Damn, this is maddening.


19 posted on 08/12/2010 3:38:16 PM PDT by onyx (Sarah/Michele 2012)
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To: jazusamo; STARWISE

Thanks for taking the time to post this outrage, jazusamo.

BTTT


20 posted on 08/12/2010 3:39:23 PM PDT by onyx (Sarah/Michele 2012)
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