June 16, 2009 9:42 AM
Coburn questions 100 stimulus projects
Will the American voters remain so enthralled with our People-magazine president and his media fluffsters that they will believe he ever had their best intersts at heart and not his own?
Sen. Coburn questions 100 stimulus projects Larry Margasak, Tue Jun 16, 12:48 am ETWASHINGTON - Repairs for rural bridges, an under-highway safe crossing for turtles and efforts to protect the sage grouse population are among 100 projects a Republican senator pointed to Monday as questionable federal stimulus spending.
The list by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., includes projects others would identify as ideal for creating jobs and benefiting generations of Americans: skateboard parks, streetscapes, upgrades of park facilities, bike trails and parking garages.
Coburn's list is partially a collection of news stories that questioned local projects to be funded under President Barack Obama's economic recovery program. The White House has promoted the program by selecting favorable newspaper stories.
One of the most fiscally conservative senators, Coburn cited the repair of 37 rural bridges in Wisconsin that average little more than 500 vehicles apiece each day -- with one carrying no more than 10 cars a day. The projects jumped over larger, urban repairs because they were "shovel ready."
Local officials had a different perspective. Coburn, for instance, criticized $840,000 to repair a bridge in Portage County, Wis., that carries 260 vehicles a day largely to a backwater saloon and a country club.
Bill Weronke, the county highway commissioner, said the bridge has "lived its life expectancy" and is dangerous. "It's a pretty crucial bridge in Portage County," he said. He added it soon will be a shortcut to a state highway.
Coburn also criticized a $3.4 million Florida Department of Transportation project for an "eco-passage" -- an underground wildlife road crossing for turtles and other wildlife in Lake Jackson, Fla., along U.S. 27.
read entire article here.
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