Illinois Policy Institute - Stimulus Jobs Created in Nonexistent Illinois Congressional Districts

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Stimulus Jobs Created in Nonexistent Illinois Congressional Districts

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11/18/2009

by Kristina Rasmussen

Picking up on a story from ABC News about stimulus jobs created in phantom congressional districts, I sorted the Illinois job count spreadsheet from Recovery.gov by recipient congressional district, and I found jobs/awards reported for the following "districts":

District "0"
20th District
21st District
22nd District
28th District
33rd District
34th District
42nd District
44th District
53rd District
59th District

Or as Stephen Colbert would say, "the fightin' 59th." Too bad he wouldn't be able to "better know this district," because NONE OF THEM EXIST. Illinois has 19 congressional districts.

Notes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "On its Web site, the federal government is attributing about $6.5 million in stimulus spending to non-existent congressional districts in Illinois."

This isn't the first time I've delved into the Illinois stimulus spreadsheet. You can read about the other problems I found with the stimulus's job counts, including guesses and obvious miscounts.

Download the Illinois spreadsheet for yourself from Recovery.gov. E-mail me if you find any issues.