Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Tucson Weekly has been doing the fact check political reporting that the Arizona Daily Star has failed or refused to do. Today, The Arizona Republic also does the job that the Arizona Daily Star should be doing.
The Republic revisits an issue from the 2010 congressional campaign and looks at how Don Kelly Construction benefitted from federal stimulus money, of which idiot son Jesse Kelly is critical of (because it is a standardized GOP talking point — just read from the script). Way to bite the hand that feeds you. Jesse Kelly's firm benefited from stimulus he criticized:
Jesse Kelly, the Republican candidate running to replace Gabrielle Giffords in Congress, argues that President Barack Obama's economic-stimulus program failed to boost the economy through infrastructure projects and that government spending is driving the country to bankruptcy.
But the family construction company where Kelly has worked for about eight years, Don Kelly Construction Inc., has benefited from at least three contracts financed by millions in stimulus dollars and has relied almost exclusively on government-funded pipeline projects for its business.
In 2010, Kelly narrowly lost to Giffords. Attacking Obama's $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a key part of his platform, which, like many "tea party" candidates, focused heavily on reining in government spending and reducing federal bureaucracy.
Kelly deflected criticism during that race when it was reported that Don Kelly Construction worked on several stimulus and government-funded projects. [See In the Pipeline |Tucson Weekly].
The Arizona Republic has found that since 2010, additional stimulus and government-funded projects, totaling at least $60.8 million, have gone to the company.
"When Kelly talks about cutting (government) spending, but his own family's company is profiting from that very spending, you have to scratch your head and wonder whether he really believes what he says," said Rodd McLeod, a spokesman for Barber. "If he's really against it, why is he in that business?"
* * *
Campaign spokesman John Ellinwood said Kelly has not requested that his father refrain from bidding on any stimulus or government-sponsored projects.
"That would have been completely and totally absurd because it had no effect on whether the project would go forward or not," Ellinwood said. "These projects were going to be done. Someone was going to get (the contract). … Somebody will be getting paid."
* * *
As project manager, Kelly oversees projects from bidding through the completion of construction, ensuring they stay on budget and on schedule, according to Ellinwood. He does not choose which projects the company pursues, although Kelly has estimated that 90 percent of the company's business comes from publicly funded projects.
Kelly's business experience is a fixture of his stump speeches on the campaign trail. He promises to fix the economy by getting government out of the way of business and cutting government spending.
Kelly told voters during his first campaign that his inspiration to run came out of opposition to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
* * *
A Republican opponent [Jonathan "Payday" Paton] in 2010 called Kelly's employment at a company benefiting from the federal program "blatant hypocrisy." A former Tucson tea-party leader and a conservative political-action group circulated material questioning him over the family company's work. [Robert Mayer, co-founder of Tucson Tea Party, "13 Questions for Jesse Kelly that must be answered before you vote," http://j.mp/zCtsMM (.pdf)].
Kelly's campaign then called the efforts "desperate." One stimulus project under question, an $11 million contract to install sewer pipelines in Pima County, was funded with $2 million from the federal government only after the project began and without any input from the company, Kelly said in 2010.
* * *
Though it is unclear which projects Kelly has overseen directly, the additional stimulus and government-funded projects that Don Kelly Construction has landed since 2010 include:
An $8.5 million contract in January 2010 from Oxnard, Calif., to install water and sewer lines.
Two stimulus-funded subcontracts, of $18.5 million and $5.4 million, in February 2010 for earthmoving on a project to repair and raise levees along the Rio Grande in far western Texas.
A $6.7 million contract in June 2010 from McAllen, Texas, to relocate a reservoir near the local airport.
A $4.6 million contract in November 2010 from Muskogee, Okla., for a sewer-line replacement.
Two wastewater contracts, of $3.9 million and $10 million, in 2010 and 2011 in Pima County. The work was scheduled to be completed this month.
A $2.5 million water-project contract in April 2011 from San Diego.
A $67,000 contract in March from the San Antonio Water System Board for a sewer line.
Ellinwood said Kelly doesn't oppose government spending on infrastructure projects, whether local or federal, "if it's constitutionally authorized."
Asked what that means, Ellinwood did not give examples but said the project must directly relate to the "proper role of the federal government."
* * *
Though estimates vary, the Congressional Budget Office said that the stimulus program at its 2010 peak saved or created 900,000 to 4.7 million jobs, largely by funding infrastructure projects.
Ellinwood said he did not know if it was helpful to Don Kelly Construction to receive work paid for by the stimulus during the tough recession. But he said the stimulus overall has not been good. "The thing about debt is it needs to be paid or you need to go through bankruptcy. Neither one of those are good."
Well, dumbass, the United States government cannot and will not ever "go through bankruptcy." It is required by the full faith and credit clause of Article IV, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution and Section 4 of the 14th Amendnment to honor its debts. The only thing that is bankrupt is your questioning the solvency and good faith of the United States government, at the same time your candidate is suckling at the government teat of federal stimulus money which he then criticizes.
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“the Congressional Budget Office said that the stimulus program at its 2010 peak saved or created 900,000 to 4.7 million jobs,….”
ROTFLMAO! Such precision!
“Well, dumbass, the United States government cannot and will not ever “go through bankruptcy.” It is required by the full faith and credit clause of Article IV, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution and Section 4 of the 14th Amendnment to honor its debts.”
LOL! First of all, Ellinwood made no mention of the U.S. going through bankruptcy. You put those words in his statement. And, secondly, Article IV, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution declares that acts, records, and judicial proceedings of one state, shall have the same full faith and credit in every court within the United States and its Territories and Possessions as they have by law or usage in the courts of such State, Territory or Possession from which they are taken. Nothing to do with federal debt.
Section 4 of the 14th Amendment simply validates the debts but does nothing to stop a default on such debts. This amendment was added mainly to prohibit payments to the Confederacy and slave-holders seeking compensation for loss of what they considered their personal property (i.e. slaves).
There is an excellent course on the U.S. Constitution available from the Heritage Institute that will educate you on the document.
“The only thing that is bankrupt is your questioning the solvency and good faith of the United States government,”
Remember this the next time there is a battle over raising the debt limit.
“Suckling at the government teat”, really Blue! Kelly Construction was in the business of building water and sewer lines for at least a decade prior to the stimulus bill. They receive fees for services rendered and, unless you want raw sewage running down your street, you better hope that they, and companies like them, continue performing those services.