Sen. Patty Murray’s worthless stimulus earmark
I’ve always found Democrat Sen. Patty Murray slow on the uptake. I’ll never forget interviewing her many years ago when I worked for the Seattle Times editorial board. We were talking about federal entitlement spending. I asked her about FICA taxes. She didn’t know what I was talking about; when I said “payroll taxes,” she still had a frozen blank look on her face. It’s the same look in the photo featured in the Seattle Times article yesterday on how her special stimulus earmark isn’t going to do much good:
Turns out that her stimulating provision is worthless. She’s claiming credit for boosting a project that is already underway and falsely asserting that the money will immediately provide jobs for projects that won’t get underway until at least 2011.
A multibillion-dollar provision of the new federal stimulus package, billed as a huge jobs boost for the Northwest, might not translate into lots of new jobs for years.
The measure, inserted into the bill at the urging of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, would enable the federal Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to take on another $3.25 billion in debt to pay for construction projects, such as massive new power lines.
Murray has said the increased spending limit would deliver a swift jolt to the Northwest’s economy, creating jobs and retooling critical infrastructure that would spur development of renewable energy such as wind power.
“It puts people to work immediately. Everyone from engineers to lineman. All the people who are going to have to get up there to build this grid,” Murray said in an interview Thursday, after details of the package were announced.
But even without the new stimulus package, BPA was expected to begin construction of some new transmission lines this year. And, despite claims the added spending power will quickly create jobs, construction of many of the new power lines wouldn’t start for several years.
Officials with BPA, however, said there is a benefit to the new spending authority — the equivalent of having your credit-card spending limit raised.
Encouraging more borrowing for a debt-ridden America. Peachy! As for Murray’s unreality-based claim that her provision will put “people to work immediately,” it’s news to a lot of folks in the industry:
The stimulus package probably won’t make much difference for the one major project ready to go this year, a $342 million installation of 79 miles of new power lines paralleling the Columbia River between Umatilla, Ore., and John Day Dam.
The BPA is completing environmental studies now and could break ground on the new lines in the spring, Johnson said. In initial interviews, Johnson said the BPA could afford the new lines even without the added spending power.
“The numbers would certainly work out. There would be adequate capital for that,” Johnson said early Thursday.
However, the head of BPA, Administrator Steve Wright, later cautioned that without the higher debt limits, it wasn’t a done deal.
“It was an open question; I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Wright said. “It was going to be a difficult decision, and now made easier.”
That was news to Robert Kahn, an observer of the BPA in his role as executive director of the Northwest and Intermountain Power Producers Coalition, an alliance of independent power generators.
“I find that utterly shocking, that there is any question (that the line would get built),” Kahn said. “I have never seen, up until now, any indication otherwise.”
Oh, and guess what? The problem with getting other projects underway is not funding. It’s the regulatory process.
In the case of the John Day project, the BPA estimates it will open the door to 878 megawatts of new power, much of it from wind turbines. One megawatt is enough to light roughly 680 Northwest homes.
It’s the first of a slate of transmission projects the BPA is on the verge of pursuing. But it would be 2011 or later before additional projects are ready for construction because they still must go through planning, environmental studies and the process of getting permits.
“Are these ready to be built? No. The answer is no. It’s not a problem of money. It’s a problem of permitting,” Kahn said.
Hello, Patty? Patty?
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Well, 2011. Isn’t that closer to when she will be running for re-election? Why waste billions creating jobs now when they will be more politically useful later?
What will happen when the new jobs never materialize? Will the useful idiots revolt or just make excuses for Obambi?
I’ve seen deer in the head lites that looked more awake than P.M. in that picture.
***
Great photo. It looks like someone had too many BONG HITS before the press conference! Or in Texas–too many straight tequila shots.
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John Bibb
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I’m sure the BPA understands the ludicrous amount of red tape they will have to file and seek approval through our glacially slow government agencies that will delay any forward movement on this project. I am also expecting the tree and bunny huggers will do all they can to file frivolous law suits to delay the BPA from actually breaking ground once the soulless and incompetent government agencies have been satisfied.
We would be better served if we picked our elected officials from the phone book or a random lottery and required them in the spirit of public service to represent us serving a term of office in the District of Criminals. One other condition absolutely no lawyers, judges, or anyone that has taught at a law school. I am sure we would be much better served then by the arrogant incompetent elitist ruling class that seems to think the wishes of their constituents no longer matter and their seats of power are guaranteed for life or through family succession.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
This ding-bat is typical of the clueless idiots in congress and the W.H.
A stupid Democrat politician? Shocked.
Probably never had a job.
That’s the problem with liberal Democrats . . . they may be stupid but they continue in office because their constituency is even more stupid.
If these people had a brain, they’d take it out and play with it.
Ha! What a photo, one of my Cajun friends over in Baton Rouge would say she looks like “a slack eyed mouth breather”.
The environmental pagans will never let more power generation projects get approved quickly. Capitalist humans will never be allowed to harm mother Gaia (see prop 8 reaction).
Patty murray was voted in the ’90s as the dumbest US senator in office. Still despite an excellent challenger to Patty Cakes in the form of Linda Smith ( no RINO) whose write in candidacy not beat out her Republican challenger and the reigning democrat in the district she ran in, Jolene Unsoeld in 1994, the Republicans let her die on the vine for lack of funds because she dared to speak out against Newt Gingrich’s desire to raise Congressional salaries (around 1995). the Republicans in this state are almost extinct because of stupidity like this.
Linda Smith’s ascendency to the Senate should have been a cake walk in 1998…..
You beat me to it!
She also has that appearance of the (smelly – alas…true!) hippie-types that I remember from the early-mid 70s….
I am regularly embarrassed that Patty Murray is my senator. She is regularly voted by congressional aides of both parties in the top 5 “stupidest” members of congress. She has taken top honors several times.
Naturally, this is what “enlightened” liberal Seattleites think “smart” is.
The same people who claim Barack Obama is a genius.
Lord, help us!
Stupid is as stupid does…and we elected a bumper crop.
The Media in this case ABC is astroturfing for the Obama administration it looks like this Diane Sawyer special was intentional to drum up support for the so called Stimulus Bill, listen to her on the View last Monday, then listen to Mitch McConnell’s Minority Leader of the Senate from KENTUCKY’s opposition to the Bill on CSPAN. Since when are journalist supposed to be promoting legislation in Congress? This is an update.
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/02/diane-sawyer-2020-hidden-america_15.html
How did she get in the Senate? I’d think one of those 1980s bumper stickers about making the Air Force have bake sales and some patchouli oil hippy friends could only get one so far in politics.
I usually try not to judge a book by the cover… but in this case the cover screams “I haven’t got a clue”.
I thought the tree-hugging fools were busy ripping out all the dams up there…and now they are going to spend $342 M to install power lines?
At what point does it get shut down or halted altogether by a lawsuit? How much money is wasted when it gets shut down?
Is Patty Whack going to help BPA get this done or will she stand with the tree-huggers?
Doors are unlocked, windows are open, lights are on,
TV is playing……… no one is home……
Who is this person?
If the truth be known, I would bet almost every d, and a few r, in the house and senate has some pork in this bill. Not one single one of our elected in dc has read this bill. God be with us, it is gonna be the crater of our Republic.
L
I note that on today’s Fox News, there are already plans for an additional stimulus package in the summer of 2009 equaling the one that just passed. The idiots in charge don’t seem to understand that there is a real crash after a drug fix stops working. All of these “fixes” have precipitated ever greater crashes, and this one will do likewise.
By the way, I hope any sensible individual is canceling or has previously canceled their subscription to Newsweek. This is the magazine that extolls the virtues of socialism for America.
In 1996 as their “tilt to the left” became a sharp turn.
It matters not to the folks who elected her that she is incompetent…they will re-elect her. Sad but true.
Ah…a new corollary on the Peter Principle…the Patty Principle. Get elected by acting stupid. Problem is, she really IS stupid.
She looks like the David after dentist kid. Is this real life?
Murray is obviously as stupid as she is unattractive. No makeup, frumpy hairstyle…gee, no one would ever be able to guess that she’s a liberal.
Don’t worry America, Patty wears tennis shoes, her best friend in the Senate these days is Charles Schumer(maybe that is why she wears tennis shoes, it gets deep around him!), and her big accomplishment in the Senate has been to warn us that port security is inadequate!
Both her and Cantwell can be counted on to tow the party line on every matter.
This state will get billions to waste on Jay Inslee’s “Apollo program” which is the democrats model for greening America. An elaborate system of graft between unions, government and “laboratories” will replace boilers with more efficient ones, lighting etc.
in every federal property.
The energy savings will never = the cost of doing so before it is time to tear the buildings down, but they claim it will.
Writing or calling congress in this state is 100% worthless.
Hell, yeah.
We did that a number of years ago.
Same type of make-believe story being told in NW Indiana. It just makes me sick to read the paper anymore. They just print whatever these liars spew without even applying any kind of smell test. I don’t think that the reporters even read their own writing. It’s just nonsense half of the time.
That’s our Osama-Mama. Always the deer in the headlights.
Once again, I apologize that we sent her to DC. It’s the shameful result of too much liberalism in this state (too many Californians moved up here.)
And the news gets worse. We’re sending Ron ‘Tax-to-the-max’ Sims and Gil Kerlikowske. For those who don’t know him, he’s the police chief who presided over the riots where the police stood by under his orders and did nothing as a young man died while trying to help a young woman who was being harassed and beaten by thugs. So, please allow me to apologize in advance for their incompetence.
Unfortunately, Microsoft software isn’t our only export.
Seriously, who here actualy thought congress knew what they were doing???
Please.
Just think of Ron as the Rahm of the NW
and
Gil (no confidence) as the Carter of police and you will have the general idea!
The police appeasement leadership during the Mardi Gras riots was a disgrace.
Reminds me of this gem: The reason she has that stupid look on her face is because, she’s stupid!
Bingo! That’s the $64,000 question. So, the liberal brain-donor says the money is to create jobs for the BPA but, being a liberal, will she support the enviro-nazis when they try to slow down the building of the power lines?
I wonder if the Ministry of Propaganda will question her on this if she shows any support for the tree-huggers?
I bet not.
Owned.
What is it with liberal political females that they’re always so unattractive? (besides their political views)
This story is false. Obama told us there were no earmarks in this bill.
The only thing she’s interested in “stimulating” is her own re-election chances. Nothing else.
She is my Senator too but we haven’t heard anything about her shoes lately. She did take to task the Pentagon about Boeing losing the bid on the tanker deal. I assume that situation is still under advisement but I wonder if she realizes that her friend Ted Kennedy wasn’t all that keen about windmills. I have them all around me and yet the liberal side of the state (less wind they say) goes without. I wonder where Murry stands on the offshore drilling? Just kidding,, I know exactly where she stands.
Funny and true. She is not the brightest person out there, but then again she is a Washingtonian. I’ve found most people from Washington to be dullards. Even in law school, there were several people that were wholly incapable of understanding even basic mathematics much less economics. There were several people that could not understand the idea of “basis points”. It really messed them up. Almost to the person, liberals in the area simply don’t understand basic economics or mathematics. It’s scary, but I guess that is why the state has an 8 billion dollar budget shortfall.
As for Patty, I always wondered why a senior senator could not get more money for the state, but I’m guessing people tend to discount her. Not even fellow democratic senators help her out much. I guess she doesn’t have the political intelligence to get things done.
You have a way with words there. At least you get her to leave the state for extended periods of time.
Seattle: Only twenty minutes from America in any direction.
(from a friend in the 2nd Amendment Foundation, Bellevue)
Murray is the Maxine Waters of the Senate. A dolt of the first order.
And just how many more of these are there that people won’t admit to?
You know what will be fascinating to watch over the next weeks and months as the Feds start implementing all the crud stuffed into the Democrat Socialist Manifesto? It will be all the Obama supporters faces and statements of anger and astonishment when things begin to affect them. When they go to the doctor with some age related malady and are told they cannot receive treatment due to the fact that their chances of living is not worth the expense. When they want to seek out alternative medicines and cures but are told that due to the fact that such things cause the costs of healthcare to rise, the “Stimulus” declared that they will no longer be used, and all research and development towards drugs and cures towards their particular illness was halted and outlawed as not cost effective.
When their personal freedoms and liberties are taken away, and not just those of the evil Conservatives, and they can do nothing about it. When they first realize that all those freedoms and liberties they imagined Bush was taking away from them actually do get taken away by all the Socialist and Marxist “rennovations” made by Der Fuhrer and all his minions…well, “I told you so” just won’t work.
What they never do is learn from history. Russia welcomed the Communist Revolution once as well. It wasn’t until all the “changes” occurred that affected everyone that the people finally threw them out. The same has happened in every Socialist/pseudo-Communist country throughout history.
Even Hitler was seen by the German people as a savior and someone who change Germany into a paradise of shiny new buildings, cars, industry etc. It was not until the Nazi way of life was imposed on everyone and Hitler invaded Poland that the people finally saw him and his politics for what they were…when they finally happened to every individual.
Democrats only have a sense of history that goes as far as the first day they can remember. This is why they have all bought into the lie of “Global Warming”. They remember Summers being a certain way when they were young, Winters being a certain way, and if they are not, then obviously it is due to man and his evils.
Forget the fact that this country is cleaner and less polluted than when they were young, that there are far more trees planted in this country than when the first settlers came etc., since they do not remember it, it never happened.
Yes, it will be quite incredible to watch. Not sure what will be better…those that actually admit that they cannot believe they voted for all this, or those that will continue to live in denial, believing that they will still have a car, house etc. given to them by the State.
Just ask one of the newcomers to this country from Russia who were around before The Wall fell about the houses, cars and such that the State provided. I’m pretty sure they will tell you all about it while you wait in the toilet paper lines.
Useless d-bag.
Meanwhile, Hillary is in the Middle East handing out cash to the tune of 60 mil, some of which is likely to find it’s way into Hezbollah coffers.
“DiiiiiPLOmacy” (in my best Savage voice the way he says the “chiiiiildren”).
Porkulus is a huge smoke screen blinding many of us to the tinder box that is Israel vs. Iran-Syria-Lebanon.
BHo is sending candlefaced Kerry to Syria to assure Assad(a head) that he wont be doing the perp walk for killing the PM of Lebanon a few years back. (OH! but we should try Bush for waterboarding terrorists).
Lots going on and this porkulus bill is getting all the press….. a bill to nowhere.
Keep your eyes on your money, folks. The banks are going to vaporize overnight.
Bear1909 out.
Great photo! She’s like a walking advertisement for low wattage bulbs.
separated at birth? Patty Murray and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones? and about as intelligent
I work in the office of a construction industry I know about bidding, contracts and permits. All of these “infrastructure building projects” that haven’t already “been on the books” won’t get started or “shovel ready” until around the year of the next Presidential election. Hmmm coincidence? I think not! And after these jobs are done these “extra people put to work” will be laid off. That’s the nature of the construction industry.
Oh and I might add to “Be on the books” that means that the bid has been done and a contract awarded to the (usually the lowest bidder) The Contractor and if you are a subcontractor your bid has been awarded as well and so on down the line.
That look on her face says it all: lost!
These liberals continue to astound me with their ignorance, incompetence and sheer stupidity.
Who should we be more concerned about, these blank-faced, know-nothing politicians or the general populace that put them in positions of power?
I fear for us.
the dems favorite type, an ignorant vote for whatever the politburo seeks. she reminds me of senator collins of maine. clueless and easily persuaded by those SMARTER than her. people such as spectacular of penn. are just jerks out for themselves and no one else. so when repubs were in power, he sort of became a repulican, but now that dems are in power he sort of becomes a dem. a slut by any other name, eh ms snowe.
Building anything in Washington State would require years of “environmental impact studies” that precipitate weeks and weeks of “focus groups” and “town council meetings” in order to “ascertain the viability” of these projects.
Translation = anything in the above comment in quotation marks translates into liberal tree-huggers hindering progress and jacking up the price tag for anything that actually represents a progression away from stone-age man conditions.
By the way, I hope any sensible individual is canceling or has previously canceled their subscription to Newsweek.
To what purpose? The next bailout will take care of the lefts buddies in the media – print and video. First task – ridding them of competition from the conservative talk radio.
Senator Murray’s ABI Score: D-
Being a resident of Washington I’ve had numerous opportunities to write both Senators Murray and Cantwell. Unfortunately they, like so many of their ilk, are basically sheep and follow the party line without thought. But I guess the without thought part is now more understandable.
So Cindy Sheehan won a Senate seat, in a different state, under a new name? Or does Patty Murray moonlight as Cindy Sheehan?
to a Dem, this IS shovel ready.
puhiama, no one is as stupid as maxine waters. i’ve had dogs smarter than that dolt. a loud mouth does not mean smart ideas are coming from it. patty on the other hand seems to cling to the back bench and silence, proving she is at least smarter than maxine who regularly proves what a moron she is.
Am I the only one struck by the similarity in the blank-faced, uncomprehending expressions of Senator Patty Murray and Codepink’s nut-case Medea Benjamin? Are they sisters? Or is there something in the koolaid they drank?
I have had too many opportunities to work with (typically on opposite sides of the argument) her brother.
He’s no prize, but even in that junk-yard dog, been in too-many fights, look — I’ll admit he was the one who got the looks… and the brains.
Poor Senator Patty; sounds like she’s having another in a LONG series of “Blond Moments”…well, no, that’s not really fair. There’s a lot of smart, clear thinking blond ladies out there. We only hear of the “less than stellar” ones…like “lights on, nobody home” Patty.
Patty Murray is a joke, unfortunely Liberal King County (mainly Seattle) will ensure she is re-elected in 2010.
New power lines will be a waste…again, as they continue to place them above ground even after all the massive windstorms we have in the Pacific Northwest that continually knock them down. Not to mention, in Washington we do not even have any full time crews to put up the power lines. In Dec 06 during the massive windstorms, and subsequent power outages, Washington had to bring in (at a huge cost) line layers from all over the nation.
Murray and Cantwell are both jokes. I wish we in eastern Washington have enough numbers to swing state elections our way. Maybe with all the illegals being born here, someday we will. But then again, if and when they can vote, they tend to vote for Dems. Oh well!
Were Patty Murray and Cindy Sheehan separated at birth?
My grandmother had a favorite poem which comes to mind:
The gum chewing girl and
the cud chewing cow
They’re alike,
but different somehow
Perhaps
It’s the thoughtful look
on the face of the cow.
Maybe Comrade Murray can give the money to Bin-Laden instead.
You know he opened schools and hospitals don’t you? That is Comrade Murray claimed.
Between her, Cantwell, and lets not forget Baghdad Jim! We are sending a lot of village idiots from the Peoples Republic of Washington state.
But good news – I hear that King County Exec Ron “tax-to-the-max” Sims is leaving to join Zero’s cabinet so he won’t be able to run the King County elections office like his private fifedom anymore. Now do I think that the Elections Office is under control of the King County Executive anymore either.
So maybe those in the rest of the state will have a chance to sway the election.
Hey, I just got a newsletter from the good [cough] Senator talking about all the good things in the stimulus bill. Guess what??
“There are no earmarks in this bill.”
There you have it. Patty says so.
Patty is my senator . . . and I’m not proud of it. She looks like Woody Allen in “The Sleeper.” She needs to wake up and smell her Starbucks.