Stimulus money not really stimulating!

In case you needed another reason to question state government, click here to read a Boston Herald report that is sure to make your blood boil!

According to a story in today’s Boston Herald, “Highly touted Bay State job creation programs have stimulated a pile of pocket-padding overtime for state workers and detail pay for cops even as the unemployment rate continues to climb, a Herald payroll analysis shows.”

The report goes on to say that three civil engineers working with DCR made more than $100,000 each in overtime alone last year! If that’s not exorbitant, we don’t know what is!

While there are a wide array of views about the stimulus bill it is clear that this is yet another example where the Patrick-Murray Administration could and should have used the money better – but hey management is not one of their strong suits. The goal was to create new jobs…apparently they did not get the memo! It seems they thought that stimulus money should be used to pay their friends a little more.

What’s particularly annoying is the fact that Wendy Fox, the spokesman for DCR actually has the audacity to defend the overtime perks! She told the Herald, “The civil engineers were kept on the job to help fix the crumbling Longfellow Bridge and other structures.” How she can try to convince us this is a good practice is laughable when there are hundreds of other people that could have helped. Fox goes onto to pull a play from the Tim Murray playbook, playing fast and loose with the facts, saying, “The accelerated bridge program created 800 jobs, not just providing overtime for three guys.” We’d love to see the spreadsheet that details where these 800 jobs were created.