Utah's '4th District' received $1.2 million?

Here's some interesting news about stimulus spending in Utah: The Obama administration says it spent $1.2 million in Utah's 4th House district to try to create jobs there without any success.

Of course, Utah only has three House districts.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said he noticed that reporting problem Tuesday while visiting the Recovery.gov Web site listing such spending. He quickly said it is an example of unaccountable spending and unsubstantiated job growth claimed by the administration.

"This is great news. Who needs to count Mormon missionaries in the census when, according to the executive branch, Utah already has a fourth seat in Congress!" he said sarcastically about supposed spending in the "4th District."

Utah said it just missed a fourth seat in 2000, in part, because the census does not count LDS missionaries serving away from home.

Bishop also noted that a chart on the government's Web site said that a "00 District" in Utah turned $529,834 in stimulus spending into 26 jobs.

"If one counts the 00 District, we've actually got five seats in Congress," he joked.

Bishop said more seriously, "Looks like a few dozen new congressional districts, unaccountable spending and unsubstantiated 'new job' growth" has made its way into government figures on Recovery.gov.

"This Web site is a red-flag reminder of the failed policies being introduced and hastily ushered through Washington at the expense of hard-working taxpayers," he said.

e-mail: lee@desnews.com