Obama administration blaming Utahns for stimulus-reporting errors

The Obama administration says Utahns are at fault, not the administration, for reporting that $1.2 million in stimulus money went to a non-existent House district.

"First and foremost, the recipients in Utah put the wrong congressional district in (reports). They are the ones who entered that data," Earl E. Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, told a House hearing on Thursday.

That came in response to complaints by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. He noted that Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, noticed earlier this week that the administration reported on its Recovery.gov Web site that $1.2 million in stimulus money was spent in Utah's 4th House District.

Utah only has three districts.

Chaffetz noted that Recovery.gov also said another $529,834 was spent in the "00 District" in Utah, which also does not exist.

"I simply do not understand how these very basic things can happen. It puts, to me, the entire reporting into question," he said.

That's when Devaney said the administration merely reported exactly what Utah recipients of stimulus money put in reports, and they are the ones who got it wrong.

Devaney added that the administration is looking at ways to prevent people from making mistakes in the future by checking, for example, that zip codes they list are actually in the congressional districts they claim.

Chaffetz also attacked Devaney for saying, in answer to a question he asked, that his board does not have a comprehensive list of everyone who is supposed to be receiving stimulus money.

"That's just mind-boggling to me," Chaffetz said. "We don't even know who's supposed to get the money, then when we say where it went to, it's going to congressional districts that don't even exist."

Devaney explained that while his board does not have a comprehensive list of stimulus recipients, "each of the 28 agencies that oversee the recovery money has such a list. They are in the process right now of trying to determine whether or not each and every one of the recipients on that list actually reported. I hope to get that report soon."

e-mail: lee@desnews.com