Stimulus signs may backfire

Opinion

August 6, 2010

W. TERRY SMITH Editor The Daily Southerner Fri Aug 06, 2010, 10:32 AM EDT

TARBORO — I have left commentary on most of the uh, let’s call it sausage-making, in Washington to our syndicated columnists and cartoonists.

However, the sign over at the town water treatment plant on Albemarle Avenue demands comment.

The Town of Tarboro applied for and received $350,000 in stimulus money to replace all six water treatment filters at the plant. Half of the money is a grant and half is a zero-interest rate loan.

The work had been completed when town officials were reminded they needed to put up a sign.

Seems it is part of the grant agreement for American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds. Public Works Director The sign cost $130.

The stimulus money includes sign requirements that require “Funded By: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Barack Obama, President” or the Recovery Act logo that resembles the Obama 2008 campaign logo and purports to be “a symbol of President Obama’s commitment to the American people to invest their tax dollars wisely and put Americans back to work.”

Apparently, millions of taxpayer dollars – I keep seeing $20 million – are being spent on stimulus signs all around the country. Not stimulus projects, just the signs. When we look at a stimulus sign, the president wants us to see a positive symbol of progress.

And if they serve as big yard signs for Democrats up for reelection, so be it.

I do not think they want us to think about the $862 billion price tag for what many of us are convinced was a failed initiative.

We have published several Associated Press stories about the false claims by the current administration as to how many jobs have been created.

On a road leading to Dulles Airport outside Washington, a $10,000 sign touts a $15 million project that supposedly created 17 jobs. Illinois spent around $650,000 on about 950 stimulus signs and Pennsylvania dropped $157,000 on 70 signs. Officials in Tennessee brag that their sign budget is small – about $12,931 – because they only post small ones the size of speed-limit warnings.

Congressman Aaron Schock, R-Ill., says the signs are a waste of money. He told ABC News: “I think it’s a bit of an oxymoron to spend tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, borrowed money, on a bunch of signs to tell them how we are spending their taxpayer money.”

You know, the signs could have a reverse effect. As one scribe wrote the other day:

Putting up all these signs could be the biggest mistake the Obama administration has made so far – and that’s saying something.

You need to be careful with signs. Ask George W. Bush about his “Mission Accomplished” banner in 2003.

Ouch.

W. Terry Smith is editor of The Daily Southerner.

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