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Published byStella Cross Modified over 8 years ago
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National Reporting Project: Watchdog the Stimulus Covering the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
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One request from us APME really wants to collect and highlight your work on the stimulus Please email links to stories to: APME@AP.ORG APME@AP.ORG Your reporting can serve as a model for others covering this massive story
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Where is this money going? $16 billion in federal contracts Data released 10/16 $280 billion given to state and local governments Data released 10/30 Where you can get the data
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Recovery.gov’s Download Center
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Click and unzip
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What you get Grants: more than 142,000 records Loans: 710 records Contracts: 62,000 records 94 columns of data in these files
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An important resource We won’t go through every field but… Recovery.gov has a User Guide Gives help on what’s in the field Some descriptions very clear Others not so great
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Some important fields funding_agency_ name recipient_name award_amount Who’s giving, who’s getting, how much
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What’s being funded award_description Can be very detailed …or not project_description Very detailed… …not project_name Note that the second one is an entry from an incorrect field
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More on descriptions Not all give this much detail, but there’s more detail in these records than we usually see EPA funding for N.D. Dept. of Health Let’s look the same project, but with more fields…
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Jobs Data also shows what kinds of jobs have been or will be created And provides a number Big cautionary note
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Numbers aren’t always what they seem Be careful using these numbers Make sure to ask what’s being counted as a job
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How is the state counting them? Georgia using a different method to count jobs What constitutes a “saved job?-”
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Note the number of teacher jobs
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Note also who’s being counted Tenured professors? Isn’t it impossible to lay them off? How are those “jobs saved?”
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Other useful fields project_status total_fed_arra_received How much money actually spent project_activity_desc Also a code for this infrastructure_rationale Why are we funding this?
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Who’s working where? recipient_zip_code is the left column pop_postal_cd is the right column pop=place of performance Are out of state contractors getting stimulus funds?
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One last note on the data There are a lot of problems with it AP is working on the data, trying to get it right If AP gets it into good shape, will release it to member papers As you find problems and write about them, let us know We’re all in this together
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Types of stories you can find Weatherization program from DOE $5 billion spent overall Local program got $132 million Who got half the money? Politically active builders group
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What projects are approved A bridge in Town of Arena, Wis. 10 cars a day use it Spending $426,000 to replace it All paid with stimulus dollars
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Who’s getting contracts?
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How many jobs were created or saved? Major purpose of stimulus Hard to count a saved job States report job numbers Who will check them?
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Was political influence a factor? Low traffic border crossing gets upgrade at the behest of powerful Senator Are state and local pols doing the same thing? We’re guessing yes
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Background recipients… Joint venture of Jacobs Engineering & Stantec Awarded a $220,535 contract Precisely 0.63 jobs created or saved
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Do they have legal problems? Class action suit Workers sue for: Unpaid overtime Unpaid wages Other violations Proposed $4.25 million settlement Still pending
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Are they politically active? OpenSecrets.org tells us: They have a PAC Top contributor to 38 members Including appropriators Spent a lot on lobbyists
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Company gives to state & local pols Sources: State ethics committee sites Nat’l Inst. on Money in State Politics Gives to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay Gives to lots of state races around country
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Do a lot of this legwork online Lots of disclosure on the Web Government sources available Nonpartisan nonprofits too Most information free
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AP will do national overviews Find all the bridges getting stimulus funds in your readership area
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Slicing and localizing data Interactive map from AP See jobs created… By state By industry By county
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Sunlight puts data on your iPhone App that lets you see stimulus recipients
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But you can tell us… Is the stimulus working? Is it well managed? Is it helping? What’s working? What’s not?
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Always feel free to contact us Bill Allison 202-742-1520, ext 224 ballison@sunlightfoundation.com Matt Apuzzo 202-641-9439 mapuzzo@ap.org
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