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Jesse Kelly, the Republican candidate running to replace GabrielleGiffords in Congress, argues that President Barack Obama'seconomic-stimulus program failed to boost the economy throughinfrastructure projects and that government spending is driving thecountry to bankruptcy. But the family construction company where Kelly has worked forabout eight years, Don Kelly Construction Inc., has benefited fromat least three contracts financed by millions in stimulus dollarsand has relied almost exclusively on government-funded pipelineprojects for its business. Kelly is running against Democrat Ron Barber in the CongressionalDistrict 8 special election on June 12 to fill Giffords' seat untilJanuary. Giffords stepped down in January to recover from woundssuffered in a shooting last year at a Tucson-area constituentevent. Barber worked as her district director and was wounded in the sameshooting. Green Party candidate Charlie Manolakis is also in thesouthern Arizona race. In 2010, Kelly narrowly lost to Giffords. Attacking Obama's $787billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a key part ofhis platform, which, like many "tea party" candidates, focusedheavily on reining in government spending and reducing federalbureaucracy. Kelly deflected criticism during that race when it was reportedthat Don Kelly Construction worked on several stimulus andgovernment-funded projects. The Arizona Republic has found that since 2010, additional stimulus andgovernment-funded projects, totaling at least $60.8 million, havegone to the company. "When Kelly talks about cutting (government) spending, but his ownfamily's company is profiting from that very spending, you have toscratch your head and wonder whether he really believes what hesays," said Rodd McLeod, a spokesman for Barber. "If he's reallyagainst it, why is he in that business?" Some voters may be bothered by the issue, said longtime Tucsonpollster Margaret Kenski, owner of Arizona Opinion, but others maysee it as "just politics." "I think that (Kelly) could make a defense and say, 'The money wasoffered. We provide good services. We do the projects right.' ...You wouldn't hold it against him if he was building schools,"Kenski said. "(But) it sounds self-serving to me a little bit. ...As far as the stimulus, I think that would put him in a reasonableposition to be attacked." Campaign spokesman John Ellinwood said Kelly has not requested thathis father refrain from bidding on any stimulus orgovernment-sponsored projects. "That would have been completely and totally absurd because it hadno effect on whether the project would go forward or not,"Ellinwood said. "These projects were going to be done. Someone wasgoing to get (the contract). ... Somebody will be getting paid." Ellinwood said Don Kelly Construction may have saved the governmentmoney because competition can drive down project bids. "It may have cost the government more money if there were fewerpeople bidding," Ellinwood said. "The family's business is actuallysaving the taxpayers money by bidding." Working his way up Kelly, 30, joined his father's business, which installs sewerpipelines and does flood-control work across the country, in 2004after finishing a four-year enlistment in the Marine Corps, inwhich he led a squad in combat in Iraq. Kelly started at Don Kelly Construction "with his shovel in hishand" and worked his way up to project manager, Ellinwood said."You start with the basics in the Kelly family." As project manager, Kelly oversees projects from bidding throughthe completion of construction, ensuring they stay on budget and onschedule, according to Ellinwood. He does not choose which projectsthe company pursues, although Kelly has estimated that 90 percentof the company's business comes from publicly funded projects. Kelly's business experience is a fixture of his stump speeches onthe campaign trail. He promises to fix the economy by gettinggovernment out of the way of business and cutting governmentspending. Kelly told voters during his first campaign that his inspiration torun came out of opposition to the 2009 American Recovery andReinvestment Act. "I decided to run right after President Obama signed the stimulusthat would indebt my 20-month-old son for the rest of his life,"Kelly told the conservative magazine National Review in 2010. He said the stimulus and federal earmarks were "briberywith taxpayer money." Kelly's comments drew criticism at the time. A Republican opponent in 2010 called Kelly's employment at acompany benefiting from the federal program "blatant hypocrisy." Aformer Tucson tea-party leader and a conservative political-actiongroup circulated material questioning him over the family company'swork. Kelly's campaign then called the efforts "desperate." One stimulusproject under question, an $11 million contract to install sewerpipelines in Pima County, was funded with $2 million from thefederal government only after the project began and without anyinput from the company, Kelly said in 2010. The company doesn't control who pays for projects, Ellinwoodargued. The company often does subcontract work. Projects and proposals Though it is unclear which projects Kelly has overseen directly,the additional stimulus and government-funded projects that DonKelly Construction has landed since 2010 include: An $8.5 million contract in January 2010 from Oxnard, Calif., toinstall water and sewer lines. Two stimulus-funded subcontracts, of $18.5 million and $5.4million, in February 2010 for earthmoving on a project to repairand raise levees along the Rio Grande in far western Texas. A $6.7 million contract in June 2010 from McAllen, Texas, torelocate a reservoir near the local airport. A $4.6 million contract in November 2010 from Muskogee, Okla., fora sewer-line replacement. Two wastewater contracts, of $3.9 million and $10 million, in 2010and 2011 in Pima County. The work was scheduled to be completedthis month. A $2.5 million water-project contract in April 2011 from San Diego. A $67,000 contract in March from the San Antonio Water System Boardfor a sewer line. Ellinwood said Kelly doesn't oppose government spending oninfrastructure projects, whether local or federal, "if it'sconstitutionally authorized." Asked what that means, Ellinwood did not give examples but said theproject must directly relate to the "proper role of the federalgovernment." Ellinwood said Kelly opposed the stimulus "because it used moneythat we didn't have" and didn't help the economy. "The people on these make-work projects have a job, and they spendthat money, but (other) people save money because they are worriedabout the extra debt taken on by the federal government," Ellinwoodsaid. "It's just not the right way to grow an economy." Instead, Kelly advocates for lower taxes, fewer regulations andincreased domestic energy production to grow jobs. He argues thatthe country has "an unlimited supply of wealth" that would solvethe economic downturn as well as take care of the nation's debt ifthe government would allow deposits of oil, natural gas, coal anduranium to be tapped. Though estimates vary, the Congressional Budget Office said thatthe stimulus program at its 2010 peak saved or created 900,000 to4.7 million jobs, largely by funding infrastructure projects. Ellinwood said he did not know if it was helpful to Don KellyConstruction to receive work paid for by the stimulus during thetough recession. But he said the stimulus overall has not beengood. "The thing about debt is it needs to be paid or you need togo through bankruptcy. Neither one of those are good.". We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Automotive Scan Tools Manufacturer , China Airbag Reset Tools for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Car Diagnostics Tools.
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