Federal Recovery Tracking Website Hides $$ to ACORN

by Warner Todd Huston | September 30, 2009 12:12 pm

We are discovering that Obama’s promised transparency only goes so far in reporting where stimulus money ends up going. The new tracking website, Recovery.gov[1], is supposed to let us all know where the federal “stimulus” money is going but apparently will not track money that goes to groups like the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

The Denver Post published a story[2] by reporter Miles Moffeit that reveals that the stimulus tracking website will only report so far into the chain of agencies and organizations that end up receiving stimulus cash and will not report where billions of dollars actually end up.

The site will delineate which state and local governments get what amounts of money but will not report any destinations after it arrives in the accounts of state and local governments. If I read Moffeit’s article correctly the site apparently will not report the identities of the agencies and vendors that end up actually getting all the cash at the end of the line.

The Post reports that payments to “grassroots-level recipients and their identities, such as subcontractors, the subcontractors’ own vendors” will not appear on Recovery.org and will remain unreported unless the states themselves decide to post the ultimate destination of the funding.

It seems to me that this is saying that groups like ACORN and other community activist groups that might receive federal funding will not become public knowledge through Recovery.org. It certainly is convenient that “subcontractors” like ACORN will remain unreported, isn’t it?

We should also realize that this blind spot in the reporting process will also leave unreported the cash that ends up in the hands of cronies of local and state pols, too. After all, ACORN isn’t the only sort of “subcontractor” that has an all too cozy relationship with our tax money — it is but the latest, most controversial example. Each and every state has it’s insiders, cronies, henchmen, and corrupt bargain makers that have cozied up to government officials that have an bottomless wallet at their disposal.

And, apparently, we the people will be left in the dark about these shady financial arrangements yet again.