Research Briefing

Stimulus Funds Wasted In New Hampshire As Jobs Continue To Be Lost

STIMULUS FAILURE BY THE NUMBERS: JOBS CONTINUE TO BE LOST IN THE GRANITE STATE 

Since The Stimulus Was Passed Last February, Over 14,000 Jobs Have Been Lost In New Hampshire. (U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 2/12/10)

Unemployment In New Hampshire Has Increased By Over 22 Percent. (U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 2/12/10)

Unemployment Rate Has Jumped From 5.7 Percent To 7.0 Percent. (U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 2/12/10)

AND NEW HAMPSHIRE IS NO STRANGER TO STIMULUS WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE

$2 Million In Stimulus Funds Spent On New Buses, Creating Only 5 Jobs. “Two of the buses will replace C&J buses currently in service on I-95. C&J President Jim Jalbert confirmed to us in an interview Friday that his company would make no new hires in relation to receiving those buses… The other two buses will be used by Boston Express to add new service. The number of new jobs created? ‘As many as four or five,’ Jalbert said. They will all be bus drivers… Two million dollars to create ‘four or five’ bus-driver jobs? That's as much as $500,000 per job.” (Editorial, “$500k Per Job: Obama Buys NH Buses,” The Union Leader, 7/27/09)

• And The Buses Aren’t Even Needed. “FTA's Rogoff said these buses are needed to keep up with rising demand for commuter bus service. Even if they aren't creating jobs, aren't they necessary to shuttle all the new people switching from cars to buses?.. No. The opposite is true. The economy has slowed demand for Boston commuter service, Jalbert said. Instead of increasing the need for new buses, it's made him put off purchasing them.” (Editorial, “$500k Per Job: Obama Buys NH Buses,” The Union Leader, 7/27/09)

New Hampshire Is Spending $500 On Stimulus Signs. ABC’s Jonathan Karl: “These signs are much pricier, $500 bucks a piece in Maryland and New Hampshire, $1,700 in Georgia, $2,000 per sign in Pennsylvania and New York, and $3,000 per project in New Jersey.  New York alone is spending about a million dollars on signs." (ABC News, 7/10/09)

White House Projected 16,000 Jobs Would Be Created In NH, But New Report Estimates Less Than 800 Were Created. “When the $787 billion stimulus package became law in February, the Obama administration estimated that the infusion of federal money would create 16,000 jobs in the Granite State… The new report doesn’t specify jobs created or saved, but instead uses a full-time equivalence formula. The total devised by that formula, for the period between October and December, was 331,392 work hours, the stimulus office said in a report released Wednesday. That hour figure amounts to 776 full-time jobs, the office said… But that doesn’t mean 776 people held 776 jobs.” (Albert McKeon, “Stimulus Employment Numbers Still Short Of White House Prediction Of 16,000 New Jobs,” The Nashua Telegraph, 1/29/10)

Thousands Of Dollars In Stimulus Money Allocated For New Hampshire Going Out Of State. “More than $85,000 worth of New Hampshire stimulus money went to Michigan State University, according to the database, but there’s no description of how the money will be spent. About 25 New Hampshire stimulus awards were granted to out-of-state contractors or agencies. Those include a Maine architectural firm, construction companies in Ohio and Alaska, and an engineering firm in Nebraska… A man named Bryan Gallagher was paid $5,236 to replace bathroom fixtures – somewhere.” (Ashley Smith, “White House Data Spur More Queries,” The Nashua Telegraph, 11/20/09)

Recovery.gov Lists Projects In New Hampshire Congressional Districts That Don’t Exist. “The reports at Recovery.gov, the government site that tracks the money, contain incorrect information for New Hampshire and Maine… New Hampshire doesn't have a 4th, 6th or 27th congressional district, just the two that split the state… The so-called phantom districts accounted for five jobs and $2,630,101.” (Adam D. Krauss, “Jumble Of Stimulus Numbers Shows Funds Going To Nonexistent Places In NH, Maine,” Foster’s Daily Democrat, 11/18/09)

• And Recovery.gov Fails To Report Where Stimulus Money Is Going In New Hampshire On Nearly Half Of All Projects. “Nearly half of the 754 items on the New Hampshire list are missing key data – most often a description of the project. We know that Dartmouth Regional Technology Center is getting $80,000, but nothing about how it plans to spend the money. Pike Industries is getting money for some kind of road work, but we don’t know how much.” (Ashley Smith, “White House Data Spur More Queries,” The Nashua Telegraph, 11/20/09)