SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Utah's 4th congressional district received more than $1.1 million in stimulus funds, according to President Obama's Recovery.org website. The problem: Utah doesn't have a 4th district.
In fact, Utah is one of many states listed on the recovery
web site with 'phantom' districts.
According to a story on ABC News.com, Arizona's 15th congressional district is listed as receiving more than $760,000 in stimulus money with 30 jobs either created or saved by the Recovery Act. According to the ABC News.com article, other 'phantom' stimulus distributions include:
- $68.3 million spent and 72.2 million spent in the 1st congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
-$8.4 million spent and 40.3 jobs created in the 99th congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
-$1.5 million spent and .3 jobs created in the 69th district and $35 million for 142 jobs in the 99th district of the Northern Mariana Islands.
-$47.7 million spent and 291 jobs created in Puerto Rico's 99th congressional district.
In a facetious statement released Tuesday by Utah's (very real) 1st District U.S. Representative Rob Bishop, the congressman says, “This is great news! Who needs to count Mormon missionaries in the census when according to the Executive Branch, Utah already has a 4th seat in Congress! Even better, that 4th seat was able to secure $1.1 million dollars from the Economic Recovery Act. Unfortunately, that million dollars wasn’t able to create any jobs in the 4th district.”
The formation of a fourth House seat for Utah has been somewhat controversial over the past 10 years after the 2000 census left Utah only a few thousand residents shy of earning another district. Utah's congressional delegation and other state officials have been working ever since to petition the U.S. government to count LDS missionaries in the Census, but have failed in every attempt. Side deals to create a voting district for The District of Columbia have also failed.
According to the ABC News.com article, a White House official attributes the web site discrepancies to human error, saying many of the agencies reporting stimulus funding don't know what district they belong to.
The Recovery.gov web site was created under the direction of Vice President Joe Biden at the request of President Obama to provide, "...easy access to data related to Recovery Act spending and allows for the reporting of potential fraud, waste, and abuse."
The non-existent 4th is not the only phantom Utah district listed on the web site, either. According to
Recovery.com's online data, Utah's "00 congressional district" saved or created 26 stimulus jobs and received $539,834. Utah's "68th congressional district" received $29,180, and Utah's "23rd congressional district" $4,685.
