Hypocrisy Alert: Allen Set to Campaign at Company that Benefited from Recovery Act

7/27/2012

Richmond, VA—When politicians campaign at small businesses or other institutions they do so in order to point to those businesses as models of the approach they would follow should they be elected. That's what makes former Senator George Allen's decision to campaign this afternoon at Delta Star Inc. in Lynchburg interesting.

 

Delta Star, which manufactures "mobile stations and transformers," was the beneficiary of a $43,000 subcontract paid for by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, a piece of legislation that Allen frequently attacks.

 

When Allen tours the company, of which Republican Senator Steve Newman is a Senior Vice President, he will be campaigning at a company that benefited from government money that he thinks was a waste.

 

The question is, will Allen look Delta Star employees in the eye and tell them the contract they received did not save or create jobs? Will he admit that he would have joined every other Republican in congress and voted against the Recovery Act that benefited companies just like Delta Star in every corner of this Commonwealth and country?

 

Allen is right to tout Delta Star as an example of a small business creating jobs in Virginia - but he should also admit the hypocrisy of attacking partnerships between government and the private sector and then campaigning at companies that benefit from them.

 

Allen's Blueprint Criticizes "Washington's Jobless Stimulus." Allen's "Blueprint for America's Comeback" states," [M]ore than two years - and nearly a trillion dollars - after passage of Washington's jobless stimulus bill, the American economy is stuck in idle." [Allen, "Blueprint for America's Comeback," 6/14/11]

 

Delta Star Received Sub-Contract On Project Funded By Recovery Act. According to RecoveryAct.gov, in September 2011, Delta Star was awarded a sub-contract on project funded by the Recovery Act. The project was valued at $43,750 and was for the U.S Department of the Interior. [Recovery.Gov, Accessed, 7/27/12]

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