I-JOBS

I-JOBS: Ah, fun with numbers. I suppose it's only appropriate to re-enter the blog by talking about a topic we chatted about before I left on paternity (pictures of my new little boy are on the way:). Governor Chet Culver's office and campaign have claimed his $875 million I-JOBS bonding plan has created thousands of jobs. Although lately, the Culver camp is counting those jobs at different times during the year.

It all started yesterday when the governor's office sent this out to say how little the state's debt per person is, despite the I-JOBS spending. The Moody's report, to which the governor's office cited, however, didn't count the I-JOBS debt load in its report. Radio Iowa's Kay Henderson wondered aloud whether Culver just made "another oops".

Last month, Culver's office claimed I-JOBS created between 7 and 9,000 jobs. Since then, both the office and the campaign seem to have settled on 7,000. However, during last month's release, the office cited numbers in June. Since then, the time frame has changed a few times. Here's part of the release from last month: (I've highlighted the time frame differences.)

Governor Chet Culver today announced that 7,000 to 9,000 Iowans were on I-JOBS project payrolls in the month of June as a result of his I-JOBS initiative.

Yesterday, Culver's campaign sent out a statement claiming I-JOBS employment creation but in a different month. Here's part of it:

According to a report issued by the Governor's Office, more than 7,000 Iowans are working on I-JOBS projects in July alone.

Today, Culver's office claimed the jobs have been created this year, not just in one month (whichever month it might be) in comments to the Sioux City Journal.

We just wish Rep. Paulsen was as concerned with job creation in Iowa and his own legislative district as he is with job creation in South Dakota," Culver spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm said in an email. "Rep. Paulsen has tried to kill more than 7,000 new jobs the i-JOBS program has created this year in Iowa."

Boo Birds: What the heck are my St. Louis Cardinals doing? Offense was an unexpected weak spot this year. And the team doesn't do anything to help the offense. Instead, it trades Ryan Luckwick, major league baseball's top run producer the past two seasons. Hmmm.... I sure hope I'm missing something or else my team will be missing something...the playoffs!