Ohio Members Of Congress Outraged At Use Of "Stimulus" Dollars To Create Jobs In Central America, Refusal To Set Up Bipartisan Oversight Board

Press Release

Republican members of Ohio's Congressional Delegation today reacted to a recent news report from Columbus' WCMH-TV highlighting a Strickland administration decision to use Ohio's federal "stimulus" dollars to create jobs in Central America. As several suggested, this is exactly why the Ohio members have urged Gov. Strickland (D) to establish a bipartisan, independent panel to oversee Ohio's "stimulus" expenditures.

"The White House, with the support of Governor Strickland, pledged that the "stimulus' would create jobs immediately in our state, yet more than 100,000 Ohioans have lost their jobs since this trillion-dollar bill was enacted," Congressman Boehner (R-West Chester) said. "Gov. Strickland owes Ohio families asking "Where are the jobs?' an explanation as to why "stimulus' funds allocated by his administration were used to create jobs in Central America, and why he has repeatedly refused to establish an independent, bipartisan panel to prevent this misuse of taxpayer dollars."

"It's no wonder only 6% of Americans believe that the Stimulus Bill created any jobs. To be fair, it does look like Governor Strickland used the funds to create some jobs -- in Central America," Congressman Steve LaTourette (R-Bainbridge) said. "To suggest an Ohio company couldn't be trusted to run the appliance rebate program is insulting, and paying a Texas company nearly half a million dollars to use a call center in another country is astounding. This is not Cash for Appliances, it's Cash for Incompetence."

"As President Obama and Governor Strickland continue to tout the "success' of the "stimulus package' in the face of record high unemployment, this story only confirms the fact that independent oversight is long overdue, which we called for last year," Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) said. "It is beyond comprehension that not only was this project outsourced to another state, but that these jobs would eventually end up overseas."

"This report is just further proof that the "stimulus' has been a colossal failure," Congressman Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) said. "With so many Ohioans out of work, it is unconscionable that funds meant to help Ohioans were used instead to create jobs in Central America."

"Ohioans deserve to know how their stimulus dollars are being spent, instead of shadowy backroom dealings," said Congressman Pat Tiberi (R-Genoa Township). "We had hoped to shed light on the stimulus allocation process by asking the governor to bring in an independent oversight board. Instead, Governor Strickland seemed to think it was unnecessary; apparently it wasn't. This money should have been used to get Ohioans back on the job. We take the responsibility of spending tax dollar seriously. It's unfortunate the Strickland administration demonstrated such bad judgment."

"It was bad enough when the state of Georgia tried to use stimulus funds to move NCR out of Dayton. Now Ohio is using its own stimulus funds to create jobs out of state," Congressman Michael Turner (R-Centerville) said. "I will continue to work for policies that promote economic growth and job creation at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and around our region, and oppose legislation that spends our hard earned tax dollars on ineffective programs that in this case not only did not help Ohio but actually hurt it."

NOTE: Ohio Republican Members of Congress first urged Gov. Strickland to establish a bipartisan, independent oversight panel made up of government officials and members of Ohio's Certified Public Accounting and auditing communities within weeks of the enactment of the "stimulus."