Jesse Kelly, who’s running for the Arizona House seat vacated by Gabrielle Giffords in a special election next month, opposes the stimulus even though the family business where he worked won several stimulus-funded contracts. The Arizona Republic reports that the business, Don Kelly Construction, where Kelly worked for eight years, has taken in at least three contracts funded by millions of dollars from the stimulus and, “has relied almost exclusively on government-funded pipeline projects for its business.”
Kelly drew fire for this same position when he ran against Giffords in 2010 — a race he barely lost. In the last two years, the company has been awarded more contracts under the stimulus worth millions of dollars.
John Ellinwood, a spokesman for the Kelly campaign, said that despite the contracts, the stimulus was the wrong way to grow the economy. “The people on these make-work projects have a job, and they spend that money, but (other) people save money because they are worried about the extra debt taken on by the federal government.” he said. “It’s just not the right way to grow an economy.”
Kelly is running against Democrat Ron Barber, a former Giffords aide. The special election is June 12.
