Stimulus Signs Draw Fire

By aaroncynic in News on Jul 16, 2010 6:40PM

Yesterday we took a look at the progress of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, opinions of which predictably split along party lines. Illinois’ Republican Congressman Aaron Schock has a new bone to pick with the stimulus - signage. According to the Chicago Tribune, a spokesman for IDOT reported that about 950 signs have been posted along roadways to inform people that the roadwork was funded by the stimulus bill. Calling it “propaganda” and an “unnecessary overhead expense,” Schock introduced a bill titled "End the Stimulus Advertisement Act” to put an end to the signs.

Nationwide, states have spent about $5 million on signage, roughly .02 percent of the $28 billion spent on roadwork. Illinois has spent $665,000 of the $936 million on signage. While House Republicans are outraged by a fraction of recovery money going to what Republican Mike Pence (R-Indiana) called “tax dollars used to promote the economic agenda of this administration,” they seem to have forgotten that those signs are made by American workers. AFL-CIO political communications director Eddie Vale said “There isn't a magical road sign unicorn that brings them. They're manufactured, that is, building and placing the signs also create jobs.”

In a state still facing double digit unemployment, we find it hard to criticize spending money that benefits workers locally. Western Remac Inc. produced about 100 of the recovery act signs on site in a factory in Woodridge, Illinois. In an interview with the Tribune, president Mike Conoscenti said “Work is down for us across the board, our margins are extremely tight, and we're happy for anything that we can get."