Obama administration to watch for waste of stimulus money...

[cynatnite]

Gov. Phil Bredesen has appointed Charles Harrison, longtime assistant to the state’s Comptroller of the Treasury, to manage spending of some $4.5 billion in federal stimulus money that will come to Tennessee over the next two years.

Harrison, whose new title is Special Assistant to the Governor for Recovery Act Administration, has served in the comptroller's office since 1969. He will implement the spending plan along with four other people drawn from state government, Bredesen said Monday morning. No new employees will be hired, he said, and each state agency will appoint a representative as a liaison with the new structure.

The $4.5 billion, which will flow through existing programs over the next two years, will save jobs and allow state departments to continue providing services while easing up on the budget cuts they were asked to make, Bredesen said. Instead of across-the-board budget cuts of 15 percent, agency budget cuts will now be “well down into the single digits,” he said.

snip:
Bredesen said the new structure led by Harrison would be responsible for accountability and transparency in allocating the funds and would develop a Web site to post details of state spending online within a week.

He said Obama administration officials told governors that they should use the money quickly, but that they would be “watched like a hawk” for evidence of waste.

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2009/03/09/daily5.html

[louis-t]

1. I say, any TARP money should go to local banks.

Let them lend it out to locals. Screw BoA.