By Matt Purple

Longtime Washington, DC residents are in for a surprise. According to the website Recovery.gov, which supposedly tracks stimulus spending under the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the District of Columbia contains 99 congressional districts.

The government-run website notes that the 99^th Washington, DC congressional district received $136,717,784 in stimulus which created 41.9 jobs. The 98^th Washington, DC congressional district received $23,258,609 which created 22 jobs.

Washington, DC has no congressional representation. If it was sliced into 99 parcels, there would be a congressional district every two-thirds of a square mile.

This is one of many mistakes and red flags that have been raised on Recovery.gov, the federal government’s $18 million attempt at stimulus accountability. The site already lists $6.4 billion in stimulus money distributed to 440 congressional districts that don’t exist.

Some of the spending in Washington goes not to shovel-ready construction projects, but liberal advocacy groups. The National Council of La Raza, a Latino immigrants-rights group whose name literally means “the race,” is allotted $156,620 in stimulus funds. Many conservatives have accused La Raza of practicing racial politics and supporting illegal immigration. The League of United Latino American Citizens, another Hispanics’ rights group, received $104,478.

The largest interest group payment was won by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to the tune of $18 million. Under the new leadership of its CEO Barry Rand, who has ties to Obama, the AARP surprised many and endorsed the Democrats’ health care plan. The group has since faced a backlash, with many seniors tearing up their membership cards and leaving the organization outright.

The National Council on the Aging, another seniors’ advocacy group that strongly supports the health care overhaul, netted $2.6 million.

Unions, one of the Democratic Party’s sturdiest financial bulwarks, are also on the take. The AFL-CIO netted $1.3 million according to Recovery.gov. The Service Employees International Union received $265,136. Both labor organizations support Barack Obama and donated substantial sums to his 2008 presidential campaign.

Other stimulus funds go to more conventional construction projects. The largest stimulus recipient is Amtrak, which raked in $1.3 billion. Two-thirds of that will finance maintenance repairs for the passenger train network, which supporters claim is woefully outdated. This is likely the handiwork of Vice President Joe Biden, perhaps America’s most famous Amtrak passenger, who claims to have taken 7,000 train trips from Delaware to Washington and back. Biden has called Amtrak “an absolute national treasure and necessity.”

The second highest recipient was Washington’s Metro public transportation system, which has been plagued by delays and negative publicity from a devastating subway train collision during the summer that left nine dead and more than 70 injured. Metro’s new money will likely go towards track repairs and renovations done by their own unionized workers rather than new hires. They also recently announced a plan to modernize their bus stops.

Many of the recipients are legitimate construction contractors. More than $162 million is allotted for Clark Design/Build LLC, which is erecting a new Coast Guard base in DC. Other beneficiaries include the DC public schools and universities like Georgetown and George Washington.

Those who favor the strict separation of church and state may find a problem with the stimulus as well. The bill gives $2 million to the Catholic University of America, which is run by the Catholic Church. Catholic charities received $71,546 and Episcopalian charities took in $169,898.

Among other oddities, the District of Columbia government is listed as receiving funds three times, once as the “District Columbia Government.” Also a person named Joseph Fischer is listed as having received $1,800. This is likely Joseph Fischer, former executive at Pricewaterhousecooper, a corporation which also received stimulus money. Why Fischer gets his own personal take is unclear.

The site claims that $2,792,048,590 has been spent in the national’s capital, resulting in 2,274 new jobs. But given the site’s inconsistencies and history of misreporting job creation, this is impossible to verify. In Arkansas, the site attributed the creation of 50 new jobs to the purchase of a single lawn mower.

Other wild overestimations of job creation have been reported by the Boston Globe, the Detroit Free Press, and the Baltimore Sun.