"Funding went directly to states," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat. "And many, many states have a bias toward funding rural projects. That has to do with the political makeup of state legislatures and governors."
Steve Ellis, vice president of the group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said that "across the board, the stimulus is not a smart program. Essentially, we're shoveling cash out, using the same old shovels we've had in the past. It doesn't surprise me that some urban communities that may have a greater need are disadvantaged simply because the playing field is tilted toward benefiting more states and the largest number of congressional districts."
Asked about the mayors' study, a senior White House official cautioned against placing too much focus on any one slice of stimulus.
"It's a fallacy to look at only one program," said Edward DeSeve, special advisor to the president. "That represents about $18 billion of a $787-billion program. And although it's an important project, it certainly isn't a large one -- not the predominant program along the way."
Stimulus money is flowing into cities in the form of healthcare benefits, tax relief and other programs not reflected in the mayors' report, he said.
The complaints come as surveys show that much of the public is skeptical about the stimulus package, which President Obama had made his top legislative priority when taking office this year.
A poll released by the Wall Street Journal last week showed that 39% considered the stimulus a "bad idea," compared to 37% who thought the opposite. More broadly, 58% of those who responded said the president and Congress needed to make deficit reduction a priority, an implicit criticism of the stimulus.
The White House is aggressively making the case that the program is necessary. Cabinet secretaries have been crisscrossing the country touting the stimulus' merits. And Biden, through regular conference calls with elected officials, is attempting to allay concerns from the grass roots.
Some mayors believe the Obama administration's repeated calls for accountability have had a chilling effect.
Because the administration has warned "that if you're doing something wrong we're going to call you out on that, people are being very cautious about dotting the I's and crossing the Ts," said Durham, N.C., Mayor Bill Bell, a Democrat.
