Paul Gosar Investigating Why Parks Were Closed During Government Shutdown | Valley Fever | Phoenix | Phoenix New Times | The Leading Independent News Source in Phoenix, Arizona
Navigation

Paul Gosar Investigating Why Parks Were Closed During Government Shutdown

Republican Congressman Paul Gosar and some of his colleagues have been investigating why federal parks were closed during the federal government shutdown.Perhaps someone should send a calculator to Gosar's office to help him put two and two together...
Share this:



Republican Congressman Paul Gosar and some of his colleagues have been investigating why federal parks were closed during the federal government shutdown.

Perhaps someone should send a calculator to Gosar's office to help him put two and two together.

Although the shutdown's now over, Gosar has continued to make statements about the park closures not being due to the government shutdown.

From Gosar's office:

"The House Natural Resources Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, both of which Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) is a member, held a joint hearing today entitled "As Difficult As Possible: The National Park Service's Implementation of the Government Shutdown". The hearing examined the National Park Service's execution and decision making concerning the federal government slowdown, which began October 1, 2013."
Gosar has insisted that President Obama himself ordered the shutdown of the parks. There was no sense of irony in the statement Gosar released Wednesday, proudly patting himself on the back for voting against the bill that would end the government shutdown.

Instead, Gosar's story has been that Obama himself just decided to close the park because he doesn't like Americans. Seriously.

This is another statement Gosar had released during the shutdown:
"The fact that the Grand Canyon was shutdown by the federal government only to be re-opened by the state of Arizona provides more clear evidence of two things I have said all along: the states are better managers of public land and there is an obvious failure of leadership at the White House. Almost two weeks ago the House voted to fully fund all National Parks, including the Grand Canyon. The shutdown of the parks was a deliberate decision by the President to 'inflict pain' on hard working Americans."
This is the same Congressman Paul Gosar who has voted on bills throughout the shutdown that he knew damn well would never result in the reopening of the government? Interesting.

Believe it or not, the hearings on the park closings didn't result in anyone uncovering a plot of Obama to shut down America because he hates us all. Shucks.

You can click here to watch videos and see the documents from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.

Send feedback and tips to the author.
Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.


BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Phoenix New Times has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.