Submitted by Tom on Thu, 2010-03-04 22:09
From Tom Harrington in a LTE in the Ames Tribune, another example where Latham fought against local interests in getting federal grant money for a transportation hub in Ames. Latham's office actually pressed the Iowa State University president to say that Latham helped get the money, but in fact Latham voted against it!
Don’t thank Latham
Published: Thursday, March 4, 2010 10:55 AM CST
Congratulations to our leaders in the Ames community and Iowa State University who secured $8.5 million for the new Ames intermodal transportation hub in Campustown.
The grant was one of only 51 selected from a highly competitive field of proposals to the U.S. Department of Transportation, with special funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Besides building an infrastructure for our future and pulling our national economy back from the brink, this act headed off massive layoffs at our local schools and at Iowa State University.
Thumbs up to Sen. Tom Harkin, who was instrumental in securing the grant and who championed the successful recovery act.
Thumbs down to Rep. Tom Latham, who fought hard against it. Still, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he tried to take credit. He’s become famous for praising projects he voted against.
Tom Harrington
Ames