Email Blast Gill CA09: McNerney Celebrates 3rd Anniversary of Stimulus

Ricky Gill (R-CA-9)

February 20, 2012

McNerney Celebrates 3rd Anniversary of Stimulus

This month marks the third anniversary of Bay Area politician Jerry McNerney’s vote in favor of an $800 million stimulus bill that has failed the people of the 9th Congressional District. After three years, it’s worth examining exactly how McNerney’s record on the economy–including his vote for the stimulus and false promises on green jobs–has failed our communities:

• McNerney has failed to curb our devastating unemployment problem. Today, the unemployment rate in San Joaquin County is roughly 16% — twice what it was when McNerney was elected. When McNerney took office, 24,600 people were unemployed in San Joaquin County. At the end of 2011, five years into McNerney’s tenure, they numbered 47,500.

• McNerney was spinning false promises when, in 2006, he ran on the platform of a “clean-energy wave” that would create millions of “good, stable jobs” nationwide and “tens of thousands” in his district alone. He reiterated that claim upon taking office, promising “an entire spectrum of good paying jobs here in San Joaquin County.” According to the nonpartisan Brookings Institution, only 45 gross renewable energy jobs–and only 67 gross green jobs of any kind–have been created in San Joaquin County since 2007.

• McNerney has focused myopically on phantom “green jobs” to the exclusion of real jobs that could benefit people struggling to make ends meet in San Joaquin County. We all remember Solyndra, the green company that imploded along with 1000 jobs and $500 million of taxpayers’ money from the 2009 stimulus. But you may not know that some 80 percent of stimulus grants have been awarded to wind-energy companies — the vast majority of which are foreign-owned.

• McNerney voted for wrongheaded cap-and-trade legislation that would cripple local industries and hit middle-class taxpayers the hardest. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the cap-and-trade bill that McNerney supported would impose the largest loss in purchasing power on middle-class taxpayers.

So much for making San Joaquin County an “economic powerhouse,” as McNerney pledged in 2006.

Colin Hunter | Communications Director

Ricky Gill for Congress | www.rickygill.com