$2.5 million of federal stimulus money went to an energy firm in the Chicago area that used the grant to build a new heating system for the headquarters of Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, located in Chicago’s southwest suburbs.

Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) with Indie Energy Systems Co., LLC, Aug. 18, 2010

The company, Indie Energy Systems Co., LLC, is located in Evanston, IL. According to Crain’s Chicago Business, it was previously a “stealth” company, relying on loans from ShoreBank and other investors to stay afloat. The $2.5 million stimulus grant brought Indie Energy out of the shadows, and into the world of big government. The money for the new heating system at the union HQ created “13.78” jobs, according to Recovery.gov, at an average cost of $181,422 per job–though it was supposed to “create and preserve 51 jobs,” according to the official description of the project.

The International Union of Operating Engineers is the biggest contributor to the re-election campaign of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), giving the Political Action Committee maximum of $10,000 for the 2010 primary and general elections. Interestingly, the union gave its contribution in March 2009, shortly after the stimulus was passed last February. That suggests a quid-pro-quo could have occurred, with Indie Energy used as the conduit.

[UPDATE: Local 150 makes its political contribution decisions independently of the national organization’s Political Action Committee, to which Local 150 also contributes.]

Yesterday, Schakowsky visited another Indie Energy project, this one located on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. She touted the company as “an innovative small business that can help grow our country’s evolving clean energy economy.” She neglected to mention its connection to the union heating project, its links to ShoreBank, or its heavy reliance on federal stimulus funds. Nor did she explain how the benefit of $2.5 million in federal funds found its way to her biggest contributor.

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How much more stimulus money is spent in swing districts? A lot. Using the data from Recovery.gov and data about swing districts, we see on the chart below that swing districts on average have reported spending $13.5 million more of stimulus funds than non-swing districts. The numbers are the following:

Stimulus funds to the average swing district: $437,371,451.46

Stimulus funds to the average non-swing district: $423,870,363.65

Swing district premium: $13,501,087.81

The list of swing districts comes from the Real Clear Politics  map of congressional districts.  They have a breakdown of  districts using a dark blue to dark red scale and toss-up districts are in gray.  They also do a very credible breakdown based on polling to show which districts belong where.  Check it out here. The Recovery data comes from recovery.gov and is available for download here.

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Pelican Institute reporter Steve Beatty has a new story demonstrating that hundreds of jobs allegedly “saved or created” in Louisiana may be incorrect or exaggerated:

The issue of phantom Congressional districts listed in the national stimulus database recently created a stir. But the tally of Louisiana jobs allegedly created or saved by President Obama’s signature domestic policy program raises more serious questions about this database.

A review of the self-reported information may inspire a chuckle or a sneer, particularly when less-than-savvy recipients of federal money don’t know what Congressional district they’re in, or that the state only has seven such districts. That unsophisticated approach made headlines when money was listed as being spent in various districts that just didn’t exist. In the end, though, those reports are likely to be modified and will land in the appropriate district.

A greater concern is the 475 jobs listed as created or saved in Louisiana, even though the related projects aren’t started. And the 171 jobs chalked up when small raises were given to Head Start workers. And the over 100 low-paying work-study jobs on college campuses that count just as much as, say, a full-time architect for a major building program. Other entries indicate what could be an under-reporting of jobs.

These are just some examples of questionable figures in the statewide data analyzed by The Pelican Institute for Public Policy.

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Americans are hurting – there is no doubt.   Unemployment is at a record high and since Speaker Pelosi has been in the Speaker’s chair, 8.7 million more people are unemployed.  What’s even more frightening is that 3 million of those jobs have been lost just since the misnamed stimulus was shoved through Congress less than a year ago.  So where are the jobs?

Earlier this week, we learned that Recovery.gov, the official Administration website charged with reporting abuse was its own worst offender.  It is full of fake stimulus jobs in fake Congressional districts.   It also shows that $3 million couldn’t even produce a single job in South Carolina’s fake 43rd district.  Somehow, $1.8 million was spent for 1.4 jobs in the fake 00 district.  This would be funny, but the money belongs to taxpayers, not the government.

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On Friday, in the name of holy transparency, the White House released the list of jobs created or saved with the stimulus funds. Now, let’s assume that the government can create jobs even though it can’t. Let’s assume that “job saved” is not the lamest excuse for government spending I have heard in my life time as a budget analyst. And let’s look at what this data means.

The White House claims that 640,329 were created or saved. That, by the way, is way less than what Christina Romer claimed would be created. Last week, she mentioned 1.4 million during a Joint Committee hearing. Remember.

First, $159 billion has been spent so far. That’s $248,273 per job.

However, when you look at some specific contracts that were awarded you find that some jobs were created or saved at an insane cost to taxpayers. For instance, $1,359,633,501 were awarded to CH2M WG IDAHO LLC, in WA to create 2,183 jobs. That’s $622,827 per job. That’s not as bad though as the  $258,646,800 awarded to the Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC in NY, to create 25 jobs. That’s over $10.3 million per job.

I would be happy with one of these jobs.

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