Gov’t Wrongly Labels Some Stimulus Recipients ‘Losers’

by Michael Grabell and Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica - March 8, 2010 9:09 am EDT

Weeks Marine won a $5 million stimulus contract to dredge the Mississippi River Delta in Plaquemines Parish, La. The family-owned firm put 37 people to work from June to September. When the project ended, it reported all this for public view on the government’s stimulus Web site, Recovery.gov.

Yet Weeks Marine recently found itself on a government list of “two-time losers,” accused of flouting stimulus rules by failing to file two required reports telling taxpayers how it spent their money.

“I don’t know why we’re on the list,” said Win Apel, general counsel for the New Jersey-based dredging company. “We did in fact file the report.”