In response to Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke's visit to Everett today and news reports out of Los Angeles last week providing evidence of that city's breathtaking waste of the taxpayer dollars, John Koster is asking Congressman Rick Larsen and Gary Locke for accountability of the stimulus money spent.
On Thursday of last week, Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel released two audits (click here and here) examining how L.A. has used "stimulus" money received through President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and issued a press release noting that the $111 million in federal stimulus dollars created only 55 jobs, which works out to an unconscionable $2 million per job.
"The numbers coming out of Los Angeles are an outrage to every American taxpayer," said Koster. "L.A. and Washington State have both seen little return for the stimulus money spent. Even the unaudited government website (Recovery.wa.gov) lists only 19,450 Washington State jobs created or saved (many temporary or seasonal) due to the $6.6 billion in stimulus dollars awarded here in Washington.
In a state where 318,027 are still unemployed, calling the stimulus plan a failure is an understatement. Rick Larsen, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Gary Locke all share responsibility for the wasteful spending that they continue to defend."
"Even as we enter the final weeks of the campaign season, Rick Larsen continues to ignore reality. He's been in Congress now for 10 years and wants to talk about everything but his culpability for the fiscal free fall that has left this country in near economic ruin. For Larsen to bring in a cabinet member from the most anti-business administration in U.S. history to stump for him at a business roundtable of all things, shows just how out of touch he's become."
"My message to Larsen, Pelosi, Obama and Locke is this: For the good of the country, discontinue immediately the reckless spending policies that have driven the national debt through the roof and the U-6 unemployment rate to a staggering 16.7%."
Koster Press Release
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