A Texas company hired to administer Ohio's popular appliance rebate program used hundreds of workers in El Salvador to process applications and to answer customers' calls.
State officials learned of the arrangement on the day the stimulus program began in March, after a customer asked a call center employee where he was located and then complained to the state.
"We were horrified," said Lisa Patt-McDaniel, director of the Ohio Department of Development.
Parago Inc., based in Lewisville, Texas, never told state officials that it would handle rebates from an offshore call center, she said. But state officials never asked, either.
Several Republican congressmen from Ohio, including House Minority Leader John Boehner and U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, said this week the stimulus-funded work should not have ended up in Central America.
Strickland, a Democrat, said Thursday the state will do a better job of vetting companies that get stimulus contracts.
And we'll do a better job of vetting incompetent governors as well.......
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