AUGUST JOBS NUMBERS: NO ‘RECOVERY SUMMER’

Syracuse, NY – Republican, Conservative and Independence candidate for U.S. Congress Ann Marie Buerkle today criticized incumbent Dan Maffei for touting the expenditure of $360,000 in federal taxpayer stimulus funds to change light bulbs in a local hospital instead of creating new jobs in Central and Western New York.

In a story posted Thursday on the Post-Standard’s Syracuse.com website, Maffei awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding to Crouse Hospital in Syracuse to replace existing lighting with more energy efficient options the day before the Bureau of Labor Statistics released August unemployment figures that show the national unemployment rate edged up to 9.6% last month.

According to Recovery.gov, over $330.5 million has been spent in NY-25 as of August 24th, creating or supporting a mere 226 reported jobs.

“Dan Maffei promised that this $787 billion stimulus would go to create new jobs for Upstate New York,” said Buerkle. “Unfortunately, it’s become a slush fund for privileged and favored interests instead of going to create and support jobs for the hard working Central and Western New York families who are paying for it. Where are these jobs promised and paid for by the multi-billion stimulus?”

In addition to the August job numbers released today, other recent economic reports confirm the same disturbing trend – a weakening economy despite the expenditure of billions of taxpayer dollars. The Commerce Department revised second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – the value of all goods and services produced – downward and calculated growth at only 2.4% in the second quarter of this year. And last week, figures were released that showed sales of both new and previously occupied homes plunging to their lowest levels in 15 years, dropping 12.4% and 27% respectively.

When justifying the stimulus’ enormous cost and arguing his support for the spending in January 2009, incumbent Congressman Dan Maffei proudly stated the legislation, “will improve the economy of local families and the economy. There are parts of this bill that will provide an immediate injection into the Western and Central New York economy and create jobs, and there are provisions for our long-term economic growth.”

In an interview posted by the Auburn Citizen earlier this week, Maffei reversed himself and admitted, “Okay, maybe the recovery bill wasn’t everything that it could have been…” Yet Maffei shows no sign of ending his support for Washington’s spending spree.

“We cannot tax and spend our way into prosperity,” added Buerkle. “The only way that true economic reform will occur is by changing Washington, and that can’t happen if we don’t change the Congress this November.”