Darrell Issa Confronts Deval Patrick on $174,000,000 Stimulus Waste

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-California), with information supplied by Red Mass Group, recently asked Governor Deval Patrick why Massachusetts is wasting $174M in stimulus money. To recap, due to the difference in Federal Prevailing Wage and Massachusetts Prevailing Wage, 17.7% of every construction dollar in Massachusetts is wasted on inflated wages.

We at Red Mass Group originally talked about the waste of stimulus money through our own prevailing wage (http://www.redmassgroup.com/diary/4621/mass-democrats-waste-32-million-in-feder­al-water-treatment-stimulus-money) here, and followed up http://www.redmassgroup.com/diary/4659/massachusetts-democrats-waste-174m-in-...) here. We then followed up by (http://www.redmassgroup.com/diary/4732/radio-free-mass-david-tuerck-to-talk-abo­ut-the-massachusetts-prevailing-wage-law) interviewing David Tuerck of the Beacon Hill Institute. Dr. Tuerck confirmed that our calculation of $174 Million in wasted money was accurate based on the Beacon Hill Institutes calculations. The House Republican leadership tried to force a vote, to exempt stimulus money from the Massachusetts Prevailing wage law on June 11, 2009 and was unsuccessful.

Below you will see the exchange between Congressman Issa and Governor Patrick. After that exchange, Governor Patrick needed to be excused to check the facts. We sent these facts to Congressman Issa the previous evening through the Whistleblower submit form on his committee's minority page. While Governor Patrick was excused, Congressman Issa then asked both Governor Rendell (D-PA) and Governor O'Malley (D-MD) if they use the Federal or their own state's prevailing wage on stimulus projects. Both said they use the Federal prevailing wage.

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News & Politics

Tags:

• Darrell Issa
• Deval Patrick
• Stimulus
• Prevailing Wage
• Davis-Bacon