Flashback: Taxpayer-designed porkulus signs
I first noted the proliferation of porkulus-Democrat campaign road signs last May (see here and here).
ABC News ran a story yesterday (now headlined at Drudge) on the nationwide phenomenon. Republicans are calling attention to politically-driven “guidances” about the sign designs:
Congressman Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Earl Devaney, Chairman of the Recovery Act and Transparency and Accountability Board, requesting an investigation to “determine the scope and impact of the Obama administration’s guidance” regarding signs to stimulus recipients.
Rep. Issa writes that the passage of the Stimulus Bill, “has provided an opportunity for the Obama administration to claim political credit for the various projects around the country that have been funded by this redistribution of taxpayer dollars.”
At the center of the controversy are a series of guidelines provided to stimulus recipients. In the letter, Rep. Issa cites what he calls “perhaps the most overly political guidance on stimulus advertising” involving the Department of Housing and Urban Development and a stimulus recipient. According to investigators from the oversight committee, HUD provided the Office of Native American Programs with information on “signage requirements.” The document suggested a sign template informing the public the projects had been, “Funded By: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Barack Obama, President.”
Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) has joined the chorus of Republican outrage over stimulus signs and claims at least $20 million has been spent on them.
…Schock’s office provided ABC News with administration guidance on stimulus signs sent to him from a constituent. The document, dated March of 2009, outlines the “General Guidelines for Emblem and Logo Applications.” The Recovery Act logo which was provided not only looks oddly similar to the Obama logo from the 2008 campaign but its stated purpose, according to the document, is to act as “a symbol of President Obama’s commitment to the American people to invest their tax dollars wisely and put Americans back to work.”
Readers will recall our Porkulus Photoshop Contest from March 2009. Definitely worth re-publishing some of the best entries in light of the new story. Enjoy:
From Anonymous:
From Caleb at RedState, a Soros-infused emblem…and a couple of, er, busy fruitflies:
From Freeper Bassfire:
And from Slublog…a must-have ACORN allusion:
More from Dave the Angry White Guy:
Tobias Becker:
Mark Jefferson:
See what others have said
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Even the greediest of Congress critter has to be peeved. After all, the executive branch can’t make laws especially not laws having to do with outrageous, inordinate, inappropriate and highly partisan spending. That right at least for now is the sole purview of Congress.
Pork has been the realm of Congress and the signage should proclaim that it is through the act of the 111th Congress and we should not forget to whom we owe that debt.
Now the executive branch does execute that law and such an execution! Let us not forget them in 2012 shall we?
OT: Much as I think Hannity is an unprepared tool, he’s the only Fox show–aside from Fox & Friends, that has MM as a guest. And last night, MM was positively yummy on his show. I could watch and listen to her rip Dems for hours. She packs more into her guest appearances than any other guest. She’s always so well prepared and so well spoken that she’s the complete opposite of Hannity. Tucker Carlson did a great job of subbing for Hannity last Friday. I’d love to have Tucker host a show in which he and MM would tee off of various Obama administration officials.
We should make us signs, neat and official looking, the same width as the Porkulus signs, that say:
“THIS PROJECT WILL PURCHASE 254 VOTES AT A COST OF $94,000,000″
Just change the numbers for each sign. Then bold them to the signposts just below the porkulus signs.
Maybe it should be a symbol of the government’s commitment. The whole effort to replace the government with Obama is really grating on me.
Absolutely! And she keeps her responses relevant, on topic, and factual – which is more than can be said about some of the liberal guests on his panel segment.
Preemptive advertising for 2012 – it’s the Chicago way!
I saw this story yesterday, and what really outraged me (besides the ridiculous amount of $ spent on the signs) was that the runway improvement project they cite at the beginning of the article states that 17 jobs were created – to the tune of… $15 million dollars! /dr. evil
I’d like to know how to get one of those 17 jobs!
I was always partial to this one.
What we should do is print a whole bunch of these up and every time we see one of those signs we should glue our version over the original. Make sure and use something like Gorilla glue… you wouldn’t want it to come off in the rain now would you? =b
I wonder if he could be charged for diversion of taxpayer monies to illegal campaign expenditures?
In the immortal words of dame Maggie, Socialism collapses when the gubmint runs out of other people’s money. Well the socialist west is learning what the communist nations found 20 years ago, and that is that while capitalism isn’t perfect, it is the only system which CAN POSSIBLY work because it is the only system which recognizes the universal human condition that we all will work for the benefit of ourselves and our families FIRST AND FOREMOST, and society a distant second.
Here’s a non-photoshopped image from my neighborhood last year. I saw it firsthand.
Wreckovery.gov
As a civil engineer involved in transportation projects, I want to make certain that signs have a meaningful purpose, especially in construction zones. I don’t like these (stimulus advertising) signs because I feel it detracts the driver’s attention at a time when the driver should be focussing on the road ahead and on legitimate signs which will help him or her travel safely through the construction zone.
I think the Republicans should continue to point out how much these signs have cost and how it is intended to buy votes on the taxpayer dime.
And there you have the a metaphor of the overall plan of this administration and CONgress. All the crises, chaos and discord they produce fast and furiously and upon which they thrive and react to are the signs that detract so many from focusing on where this administration is taking this nation on its road ahead.
How about:
“This project will be paid for by your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren long after you are gone!
This ad has been approved by Barack Obama.”
Inter-generational theft at work…
Thus, the use of ‘Wreckovery.com”
I sent Michelle a picture of one of those signs about a month ago. It was taken on an off-road trail in the Tahoe National Forest.
No problem here – every time I see the signs there’s a major traffic jam because of the lane closures. So I have plenty of time to read when I’m stopped.
These signs have appeared at various intersections in my neighborhood as crews work on the traffic signals at intersections. Here’s what they did: At first the left-hand turn lane would get a green arrow, then the yellow light, then the light would change to steady green, giving the left hand turn lane a chance to turn left when there was no oncoming traffic. But now there are new lights: the green arrow turns into a blinking yellow arrow, giving the left hand turn lane the chance to turn left when there’s no oncoming traffic – so, same actions, same result, new expensive light. Quite worth the debt on my children, right?
I’m LOVING IT! L-O-V-I-N-G IT!
The only way it coulda been better, is if the top part of the sign was reworded to say putting America OUT OF work….
In my neck of the woods, they used the money to turn a perfectly good unpaved public parking lot into 2 paved parking lots. Oh, and they installed a bunch of “No Parking!” signs along the now verboten, still unpaved, section of the original parking lot.