From The Center for Public Integrity

Stimulating Hypocrisy: Scores of Recovery Act Opponents Sought Money Out of Public View

By John Solomon and Aaron Mehta | October 17, 2010

The following is an excerpt. To read the entire article click here. 

Lamar Alexander, the senior Senator from Tennessee, is another prominent GOP leader who voted against the bill, calling it a “colossal mistake” during debate. He has since written at least eight letters requesting funds. Several of these projects, he wrote, “will provide both short-term and long-term benefits” to “economically disadvantaged and distressed” regions in his state.

Sen. Lamar Alexander speaking on the floor of the Senate.

Spokesman Jim Jeffries told the Center that Alexander voted against the stimulus “because it was too much spending and too much debt for too little benefit to the economy.” However, he adds, “Republicans lost that fight and the money is being spent, and because Tennessee taxpayers are footing part of the bill, they have a right to apply for the funds.”

All told, five members of the GOP’s leadership — including McConnell, Pence, Sessions, Alexander, and Washington Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers — sent letters requesting that funds be funneled to more than a dozen projects. All voted against the bill.