Several watchdog groups are blowing the whistle on President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan – showing billions of taxpayer dollars designated for zip codes and congressional districts that don't exist in the United States.
New Mexico Watchdog scoured recovery.gov, a website the Obama administration launched to track billions of dollars of stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The group compared zip codes reported at recovery.gov against the U.S. Postal Service's zip code locator.
New Mexico
"The website, recovery.gov, reported $26.5 million going to 10 New Mexico congressional districts that do not exist," the group reports. "Those millions were credited with creating 61.5 jobs."
Additionally, $131,139 in funds reported for New Mexico were designated zip codes matching DuPont, Wash.; Richland, Wash.; and Gales Creek, Ore.
While the recovery website shows $373,874 was spent in zip code 97052, the group found that zero jobs were created. Likewise, $100,000 to zip code 86705 resulted in no additional jobs, and $36,218 to zip code 87258 purportedly created five jobs.
"None of these zip codes exist in New Mexico, or anywhere else, for that matter," Jim Scarantino of New Mexico Watchdog writes. "All told, we have found over $27 million dollars that has been reported as going to either nonexistent Congressional districts or nonexistent zip codes."
The report is just one of a flurry of similar investigations by watchdog groups across the nation.
West Virginia
West Virginia Watchdog reported $28 million in stimulus funds for that state listed as going to four phantom zip codes: 26661, 26551, 24913 and 2119.
Steven Allen of West Virginia Watchdog revealed three other zip codes actually belonged to Virginia, not West Virginia. The group also reported that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act added eight fictional congressional districts to the state: the 54th, 9th, 4th, 6th, 12th, 13th and 00.
Ed Pound, director of communications for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, reportedly told West Virginia Watchdog, "People make errors, and we've found people are making errors in these reports. Our job is data integrity, not data quality."
Nebraska
Likewise, Nebraska Watchdog reported, "If you live in Nebraska zips codes 68129, 69631, 69660 and 32202, you've seen over $2.2 million dollars in stimulus funds poured into your backyard. Unfortunately Nebraska Watchdog has also learned that three of those zips codes don't exist, and the fourth, 32202, is several states away."
Washington
Scott St. Clair, a watchdog at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Washington state, reported that nearly $3.5 million in federal stimulus funds for that state have been designated for zip codes that either don't exist or belong to other states such as Alaska, Virginia and Massachusetts. He conducted a manual review of 488 Washington zip codes and found 11 incorrect or nonexistent listings.
Virginia
Old Dominion Watchdog's Paige Winfield found 14 phantom zip codes that the Obama administration website listed for Virginia reportedly received $9.5 million in federal stimulus money. Of the zip codes listed for that state, seven do not exist and an additional seven are located in different states such as New Mexico, West Virginia and Virginia.
