During his weekly radio address on Jan. 10, 2009, President Obama said the No. 1 goal of his $787 billion economic stimulus plan is to create 3 million new jobs in the next two years. But if that is the goal, then why is Missouri’s St. Louis County using tax money to hire a New York City advertiser to lobby for nanny-state regulations like a public smoking ban?
The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that county health officials will use money from the stimulus to help persuade the county to strengthen a smoking ban, namely by passing legislation to eliminate exemptions for establishments frequented by smokers such as bars, casinos, and the workplace. Health officials have signed a $2 million contract with Fleishman-Hillard, a major public relations firm owned by the New York City-based Omnicom Group advertising agency, to “develop and implement a public education/advocacy campaign” that includes “a unified media message,” the contract says.
County officials say that the grant and the contract are not being used to lobby. Instead, they are merely “educating the public about how [the smoking ban] would benefit the public.” Sounds a lot like lobbying to me.
But what is most interesting and outrageous about what St. Louis County is doing is the impact on job creation. Towards the end of the contract, there is a box to list how many jobs the money for the contract from the stimulus funds would create or retain. The box says none. That’s a far cry from the 3 million jobs the President said the stimulus money would create.
Sadly, this is not the first time we have seen this kind of outrageous use of our tax dollars. NTU’s Andrew Moylan has blogged over at BigGovernment.com about how stimulus funds have been used to lobby government – in some instances by government agencies – for burdensome, nanny state regulations like bans on smoking, fatty foods, soda, and salt.
Not only do these efforts raise serious ethical and legal questions about how our tax money is being spent, they also raise basic questions about the government’s true intentions. Is our government trying to stimulate the economy? Or are they just using our money to expand their power and influence into our lives? So far, the actions by the government are not providing good answers to these questions.
