Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Oklahoma’s Rock House

Topline: A “rock house” sounds more like something out of The Flintstones than an actual federal building, but the government still spent $530,000 to turn the abandoned structure into a visitor’s center in 2011. The money would be worth $756,000 today.

The Oklahoma Rock House

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses. 

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.   

Coburn’s Wastebook 2011 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth nearly $7 billion, including the cash spent on Stone Age architecture.

Key facts: The Talimena Scenic Drive is a picturesque 54-mile highway from Talihina, Oklahoma, to Mena, Arkansas. It makes sense that it would have a visitor’s center, and in 2011, it already had three of them.

Still, the Talihina Chamber of Commerce felt the need to add a fourth visitor’s center, which the U.S. Department of Transportation happily funded with a federal grant.

Combined with local funding, the house cost $653,000 to renovate, more than 14 times the median value of a normal house in Talimena.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Coburn griped that Oklahoma’s other infrastructure needed the funding. At the time, the state had the eighth-most “structurally deficient” bridges in the country.

Proof etched in stone

Supporting quote: Vern Nelson, director of the Talihina Chamber of Commerce, responded to Coburn by saying Oklahoma was “in dire need of a visitors’ center” to have a “strong presence” on the highway.

She also said the existing visitor’s centers were understaffed and rarely open — though that doesn’t explain why it was not cheaper to increase staffing levels instead of building a new center.

Summary: At least there is no way for the government to hide its wasteful spending on the rock house. The proof is etched in stone.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.