PRESS RELEASE
January 13th, 2010
Jefferson City, MO – Allen Icet pledged today that his first action as State Auditor would be to conduct a vigorous audit of federal stimulus funds received by the state of Missouri.
“We owe it to Missouri taxpayers to ensure that our tax dollars are being used as intended,” said Icet. “As Missouri Auditor, I’ll keep careful watch over all of the stimulus funds coming into our state for fraud and effectiveness. If there’s fraud, we’ll put an end to it. Where there’s ineffectiveness, we’ll expose it and I will work to try and re-direct funds to better serve the tax payers of Missouri.”
Icet said his audit plan was motivated by news reports that federal stimulus funds had not “saved or created” nearly as many jobs as claimed by the Obama Administration.
“The Obama Administration might think funny math is good enough for stimulus funds, but I don’t.” Icet said. “Missouri taxpayers deserve to know whether this flood of new spending is working as President Obama claimed it would.”
In December, the Obama Administration quietly changed the way it counts jobs “saved or created” by the stimulus. Critics have since charged that the changes make jobs “saved or created” numbers even more misleading.
Icet is the only candidate in the Auditor’s race with experience in Missouri government and an actual record of defending Missouri taxpayers. In eight years on the House Budget Committee, he has protected Missouri taxpayers by cutting taxes and eliminating millions of dollars in waste in state programs.
For more information regarding the Obama Administration’s policy on counting jobs “saved and created,” see http://www.propublica.org/ion/stimulus/item/white-house-changes-stimulus-jobs-count-111.
www.IcetforAuditor.com
Paid for by Icet for Auditor, William Linton, Treasurer