HARRISBURG – Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason released the following statement after learning that Congressman Paul Kanjorski, appointed as the Democratic representative to the Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission, has missed over half of the meetings aimed at tracking how our tax dollars are being spent.  This news breaks just days after Congressman Kanjorski sent out a taxpayer-funded mail piece to his constituents touting the failed stimulus bill he voted for last year.

“Congressman Paul Kanjorski was supposed to be a watchdog, but he continues to be either incompetently asleep at the switch or doesn’t care if tax dollars are wasted,” Gleason said. “Asking Paul Kanjorski to make sure our tax dollars are being spent wisely is like asking a 5-year-old to keep a watchful eye on the candy store.  Paul Kanjorski has never cared about taxpayers and his failure to even show up to these meetings prove that some things never change.  The people of the 11th Congressional District desperately need new leadership.”

As if supporting the nearly one trillion dollar stimulus package was not bad enough, Congressman Kanjorski has only attended 3 out of 10 meetings of the Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission.  Records indicate that U.S. Congressional Democratic Representative Paul Kanjorski has only attended 3 of the 10 meetings held by the Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission, which monitors how stimulus funds are being distributed in Pennsylvania. (Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission, “Oversight Commission Meeting Materials,” Accessed February 17th, 2010, http://www.recovery.pa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/about/6015/oversight_commission_meeting_materials/533916)

Additionally, residents of Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District received a piece of mail from Congressman Paul Kanjorski that touted the effects of the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package. The mail piece, which was paid for by the taxpayers of the 11th Congressional District, was placed in mail boxes on the same day that Kanjorski announced his bid for re-election.

Congressman Paul Kanjorski has never been known as a fiscal steward of taxpayer dollars and that is a point he is not shy about letting the public know as evidenced by this exchange between Congressman Kanjorski and CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson from a program that aired on August 1st, 2008:

“You call these federal and state grants ‘free money.’ The quote is, ‘I don’t know anyone who would turn down a free building. It would be funded with, quote, free money,’” Attkisson said. “‘From federal and state grants.’”

“For the community, it is free money,” Kanjorski said.

“But it’s not really free. Taxpayers are paying for it,” Attkisson pointed out.

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/01/eveningnews/main4316199.shtml)