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February 24, 2010 07:57 PM UTC

GOP Governors Push Back on Stimulus Disparagement

  • 64 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

A great report from the Colorado Independent yesterday we didn’t want to escape mention:

To hear Republicans in Congress tell it, the Grand Old Party is pretty much united against the deficit-spending approach to economic recovery. Don’t tell that to local GOP officials.

Faced with the most severe budget crises in decades, state and local policymakers from across the country – including a growing list of prominent Republicans – have been only too happy to accept the additional federal funding that accompanied last year’s $787 billion stimulus bill. Not only did that money prop up job markets, many say, but it kept social-service programs running strong during a period of greatest need. They don’t see stimulus spending as indebting the future. They see it as an investment in the future.

“I don’t apologize for it at all,” Florida GOP Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday of accepting the federal help. “It was the right thing to do. We needed the money.”

That’s not all. Twelve months later – even as Republicans on Capitol Hill are balking at the new jobs bills being pushed by Democrats – a number of conservative governors have unveiled 2011 budget proposals assuming that billions of dollars more are on the way from Washington. Adding to the sense of urgency, 47 of the nation’s 50 governors on Sunday sent a letter to congressional leaders urging billions of dollars in additional Medicaid funding.

The saga highlights the expansive divide between GOP leaders on the national stage – who are focused almost exclusively on how many seats the party can pick up in this year’s mid-term elections – and those running the states, where the more pressing issue is how to balance budgets amid the economic chaos.

The two perspectives couldn’t be more different. Washington’s Republicans – who have voted near-unanimously against the Democrats’ stimulus bills – have effectively bet their political fortunes that those efforts would not only anger an American public grown weary of deficit spending, but would also fail to spur a recovery. An economy in turmoil, therefore, will play to their advantage at the polls in November – leaving them in the odd position of hoping the downturn endures until then. State officials, on the other hand, are grappling in real time with pinched budgets, a scarcity of jobs, and safety-net services threatened by increased demand and falling revenues.

We’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last year talking about the disconnect between election-minded rhetoric about the stimulus and the reality of what it’s done to assist during Colorado’s ongoing fiscal crisis. We’ve maintained from the beginning that it takes some real chutzpah to declare, for example, that you would not have accepted federal stimulus funds as Governor, but then throw tantrums whenever budget cuts impact your constituents. What we’ve seen in the last year is that kind of rhetoric meeting the reality of the worst economy since the 1930s–and losing. If anything, the federal stimulus bill passed last year should have been larger, with more emphasis placed on the stabilization of state government budgets, as we and state officials said while it was being debated. But even the size it was it amounted to hundreds of millions in irreplaceable assistance, and no Republican has dared to offer a budget plan that carries out the cuts stimulus funds have backfilled. There’s a simple reason for that: it would be a nightmare scenario.

We do think it’s interesting how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), or more to the point, demonizing ARRA as a central campaign theme, is emerging as an election issue for some Republicans–including all of the marquee candidates for office in Colorado. They can maybe win primaries doing so (note to Charlie Crist), but if Democrats can swing public opinion back to  favorable on the Recovery Act, by selling it like they should have been a year ago and finally seem to be doing now, Josh Penry’s “I would reject the stimulus” rhetoric could become a perilous limb for his fellow Republicans to have gotten out on.

Speaking of which, has anybody ever nailed down Scott “Rick Perry” McInnis on this?

The curious thing about polling public opinion on the Recovery Act is that the individual provisions in the bill are broadly supported by the public when adequately explained. There is a fundamental disconnect between the public’s overall impression of the Recovery Act and what it actually was, and we think that can only be attributed to the deafening and rhetorically undifferentiated attacks on “the stimulus” heading into this election year. It’s never easy to argue your case when it’s more complicated than your opponent’s sloganeering, but there does seem to be a roadmap here for Democrats to turn their ‘liability’ into an asset.

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64 thoughts on “GOP Governors Push Back on Stimulus Disparagement”

                1. just for one or two teeny examples: Sarah Palin beat out all other comers for VP. She took Bush style ignorance, not knowing anything and being proud of it, to the nth degree. But even picking that ignorant loon wasn’t enough to get McSame back in the base’s good graces.  

                  Now his state’s legislature wants to demand birth certificates from presidential candidates because Obama supposedly never produced one except for the zillion times he did. McSame is now in serious danger of not being clueless or loony enough to win a primary in his red state, though he’s pretty damn clueless in his own right but the bar is so high these days. I could go on and on and on and on….

                    1. you were asking me to be specific about this:

                      I never said havng a clue was a plus for a Republican pol.  It’s a severe handicap, just like believing in the reality based world.

                      As for Crist, I’m no huge fan but the fact that he had the sense to take stimulus funds without a song and dance and didn’t join in the almost universal hypocrisy of other repubs on the subject qualifies him for having a clue in my book and no doubt disqualifies him from GOP success.  See above. Sorry about leaving letter out of having.

                    2. You want me to engage you on the point that ‘being dense is a positive for any Republican politician’?

                      I don’t really know what you’re looking for from me.  It’s too broad and general of an insult, and I’m sure you don’t think that I’m going to agree with you.

                      It’s like saying “All Wings fans are assholes.”

                      Not true, but what’s the point in trying to have a rational discussion with someone who says it?

                    5. My point wasn’t that all Republicans are Palin/Bachmann style dumb as a post.  It’s that those who are or pretend to be as well as those (with lots of overlap here) who push fear, bigotry, and silly, crazy nonsense like the birth certificate conspiracy have the best chances in today’s GOP primaries. I believe recent events bear me out on this. Thanks for the good luck wishes and have a nice day.

                    6. …reject any candidate outright who peddles the birth certificate line.  Even the most popular conservative blog has laid it out pretty clearly:

                      http://www.redstate.com/erick/…

                      That’s the vast majority of us.  Believing otherwise means you spend too much time watching MSNBC.

                    7. A new DailyKos/Research2000 poll reveals the shocking news that 58 percent of Republicans sympathize with the far-right birthers. Twenty-eight percent don’t believe that President Obama was born in the U.S., and another 30 percent aren’t sure. The birther sentiment was strongest amongst people older than 60 and people living in the South. Politico’s Glenn Thrush asks, “When do we start a serious dialog about the Birther movement being a proxy for racism that is unacceptable to articulate in more direct terms?”

                      http://thinkprogress.org/2009/…  

                      Poll: Bad Craziness in the GOP Base

                      Politics | Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 5:01:40 pm PST

                      A new poll conducted among 2,000 self-identified Republicans by Daily Kos and Research 2000 shows that the Republican base is possibly even crazier than I previously thought: Poll: Republicans Think Obama Is A Socialist, And Palin More Qualified To Be President.

                         * 39% of Republicans want President Obama to be impeached.

                         * 63% think Obama is a socialist.

                         * Only 42% believe Obama was born in the United States.

                         * 21% think ACORN stole the 2008 election – that is, that Obama didn’t actually win it, and isn’t legitimately the president, with 55% saying they are “not sure.” …

                         * 53% think Sarah Palin is more qualified than Obama to be president.

                         * 23% want to secede from the United States.

                         * 73% think gay people should not be allowed to teach in public schools. This position puts the GOP base well to the right of none other than Ronald Reagan, who helped defeat the Briggs Initiative, a 1978 referendum in California that would have forbidden gays or people who advocated gay rights from teaching in public schools.

                         * 31% want contraception to be outlawed.

                      http://littlegreenfootballs.co…

                    8. was supposed to protect students.  After all, if gays represent a threat to students of the same gender, wouldn’t straight teachers represent the very same degree of threat to opposite gender students?  This could get really complicated.  To completely avoid any danger I suppose you’d have to first segregate classrooms by gender, then have straight teachers teaching only same gender students and gay teachers teaching only opposite gender with bis band from teaching altogether?  

                      Imagine the staffing headaches. You wouldn’t just have to, say, find a qualified Spanish teacher for boys in a low achieving school but it would have to be a straight male or lesbian qualified Spanish teacher. And even after all that who knows?  Stuff happens.

        2. And it’s a shame really (although I can’t bring myself to get terribly worked up about Crist’s bad fortune)–he had the balls to do right by his state and now he’s going to pay for it with his political career.

    2. Really?  Crist?  This guy has spent more money on a Senate primary than any non-incumbent in history, and he’s still losing.  That guy is like the John McCain of the RGA.

      Also, it’s really interesting that you criticize these Governors for taking their state’s fair share as “hypocrites.”  Once the bill was passed, it would be ridiculous not to go after the money your state is entitled to under the provisions of the bill.

      That would be like Republicans criticizing Democrats who thought the Bush tax cuts were irresponsible as hypocrites because they didn’t voluntarily send the difference in to the IRS.

      And btw, “adequately explained” in polling is code for “push polling.”  You tell them all the reasons they should be for it (in your opinion), and voila!  They support it!  Who would’ve thought…

        1. I don’t actually see any liberals doing that either.  Charlie Crist never claimed “that ARRA failed to create any jobs.”  He campaigned for it.

          And quite obviously, when you spend $862 billion, you’re going to create some jobs.  You just can’t not.  But it’s the value.  If it created a million jobs, would it be worth it?  No.  That’s about $1 million per job.  But why try to explain it when this guy does it so much better.

          2. http://online.wsj.com/article/…

            Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who called the stimulus a “wasteful spending spree” that “misses the mark on all counts,” wrote to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in October in support of a grant application from a group in his district which, he said, “intends to place 1,000 workers in green jobs.” A spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan said the congressman felt it was his job to provide “the basic constituent service of lending his assistance for federal grant requests.”

            Republican Reps. Sue Myrick of North Carolina and Jean Schmidt of Ohio sent letters in October asking for consideration of funding requests from local organizations training workers for energy-efficiency projects.

            In November, Ms. Schmidt said in a statement, “It is time to recall the stimulus funds that have not been spent before the Chinese start charging us interest.” Aides to the congresswomen said they had always supported local organizations in their requests for federal funding.

            …The Environmental Protection Agency received two letters from Sen. John Cornyn of Texas asking for consideration of grants for clean diesel projects in San Antonio and Houston. Mr. Cornyn is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

            One of the letters was signed jointly with Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, also of Texas. The letter said that the Port of Houston Authority “has informed me of the positive impact this grant will have in the region by serving as a foundation for PHA’s Clean Air Strategy Plan, creating jobs, and significantly reducing diesel emissions.” Houston received millions of dollars in diesel funding.

            The agency also appeared to have received eight identical letters from Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah recommending infrastructure projects in his state, seven of which were sent before stimulus legislation was passed by Congress.

            Spokespeople for Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Bennett said they were just making sure their states received part of the spending once it had been agreed upon. Ms. Hutchison’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

            The entire congressional delegation of Alabama, including its two Republican senators, wrote to then-Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell asking for $15 million for cogongrass eradication and control programs in the state. The state ended up getting a $6.3 million grant.

            Republican Richard Shelby, the state’s senior senator, called the stimulus package “the socialist way” while it was being debated. A spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

      2. And regarding it being ridiculous not to go after the money your state is entitled to under the provisions of the bill, tell that to Rick Perry, Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal, and all those other conservative heroes who shot down the money.

        1. …requested to use the funds to pay down the state’s current budget deficit (gee, what a novel idea…).  The others were making points.  And eventually, all three took the money.

            2. Once the bill is passed, it would be stupid not to take your state’s cut (seeing as you’re going to pay the taxes either way, and the money will be spent either way).  This is the equivalent of saying wealthier Democrats are hypocrites because they don’t voluntarily send a check to the IRS for the additional taxes they would have paid at Clinton-era rates after Bush passed his tax cuts.  That’s ridiculous.

              1. Rep. Shelby loves him some socialism:

                The entire congressional delegation of Alabama, including its two Republican senators, wrote to then-Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell asking for $15 million for cogongrass eradication and control programs in the state. The state ended up getting a $6.3 million grant.

                Republican Richard Shelby, the state’s senior senator, called the stimulus package “the socialist way” while it was being debated. A spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

                http://online.wsj.com/article/…

                1. ARRA and the Bush tax cuts aren’t really comparable because of how the money was being disbursed. In BR’s metaphor, individual Democrats would have had to increase the amount of money taken out of their payroll taxes. In the real world with ARRA, we see the GOP scoring political points, trying to undermine Obama’s entire agenda, but then turning around and using their power as elected officials to make sure their states get their fair share. I’m sure BR can see the difference between his hypothetical analogy and what is really occurring.

                  Wanting it both ways is the very definition of hypocrisy.

                1. Spending trillions of our dollars while paying additional taxes of their own, which allows them to keep their $200k/year job with health insurance, a staff of 25-75 people, travel and expense accounts, an unreal pension plan, etc…

                  I don’t think it’s different at all.  And to be clear, I’m not defending any particular Republican.  I’m saying that simply taking the money is not hypocritical at all, and it’s ridiculous for you to say it is.

                  2. what the corporate overlords you serve get.  And between the  billions off the books for war and the billions extra we pay for health care over countries that cover everyone at half or less the cost, nobody outspends Repubs.  Heck, your corporate elite could buy and sell the Dem elite for less than they pay the help around the house. Lattes still cost let than private jets and who do you suppose owns most of those?  

    1. Rs will just say that those R Presidents all inherited messes from Dems and Dems all inherited great economies from Rs. They  look at history the way the old Soviets did.  If it doesn’t fit their propaganda, just get a re-write.  

      1. I still can’t stop trying to call ’em on their Bullshit.

        as if we give up they will continue to run roughshod over the True America we all know exists.

    2. So it’s hard to pay much attention to it.  Where did those projections come from?  Certainly not the CBO.

      Also, you have to look more at Congress than the president.  After all, they do pass the budget.  And in 1996-2000, I recall Republicans controlling Congress.  And in 2006-2008 I recall Democrats controlling Congress.  And in 1986-1988 Democrats controlled Congress.  And in 1988-1992 Democrats controlled Congress.

          1. nobody has ever accused BR of being the sharpest knife in the drawer, here is a “put up” that might make him want to “shut up”.  And I believe these presidents had a veto pen.  Hope BR can understand graphs.

            1. So the first two are OK by me.  The Medicare Part D bill was a bipartisan measure and can hardly be called the “Republican Rx Drug Bill.”  Furthermore, I didn’t support that bill at all, and I have called out Bush on this site and in my own private conversations many times for it.  $138 billion is the PROJECTED reduction in the DEFICIT for one version of the health care reform bill.  The CBO also projected that Medicare Part D would cost $400 billion, and revised that about 35% higher within just a month of it passing.  That’s one in a long line of bad math by the CBO.  Also, a reduction in the deficit by $134 billion over 10 years means we’re still spending an extra $100 billion+ each year and our annual deficit is still well over $1 trillion.

              Woo hoo.  Republicans in Congress, Bill Clinton, and the internet boom (or bubble, I suppose) all can claim a significant level of responsibility for the surplus in the 1990s.  Similarly, Bush and Congressional Democrats can both take similar responsibility for the budget deficit at the end of his 2nd term.  But it lies entirely on Democrats–of every level–that the deficit has more than tripled since that time.

              1. if Democrats are involved in passing them.

                Which is why Republicans are still complaining about all the stimulus spending despite the fact that about a third of it was tax cuts.

                Hey, remember those six years when Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and Presidency? I think it was WAY BACK in 2001-2006 or so. Good thing there were ZERO DEFICITS back then. It makes us all sleep better if we can simplify things to the point where IT’S ALL DEMOCRATS’ FAULT.

                I write in capitals because it makes my arguments truer.

              2. 1. I don’t see the word expenditure anywhere but in your post.

                2. Any increase in spending or tax cut increases the deficit. 2 side of the same coin. But you know this already.

                3. IIRC, the estimated cost of Medicare Part D was low because the Bush Admin prohibited the Chief Actuary of Medicare(?) from testifying before congress.  Remember that?

                4. Now it’s the Dems fault that the economy tanked in 2008? That’s an interesting perspective you have there.

      2. that all, or even most, of Bush’s spending occurred between 2006-2008? Because that is ridiculous! First of all, the President still has to sign the budget. So they are equally responsible.

        Second, the Executive branch makes budget recommendations and the legislature, for the most part, follows them. What drove the national debt under Bush was two wars, an unfunded prescription drug program, TARP, and a massive expansion of “Homeland Security”. All of those were his ideas!!

        I will give you credit on the Clinton years. The republicans contributed to the budget balancing, but so did the emergence of an entire economic sector (computer technology)

        1. You’re being too generous.

          When Clinton was Prez, he operated under Pay-Go. When W was elected, one of the first things those same R’s did was to repeal Pay-Go.

          1. And I think Pay-Go is a responsible policy. I’m not excusing the change in policy once Bush got there, but just saying that when it was being implemented it worked well. I have a feeling the Bush administration had a lot to do with Pay-Go going away, not necessarily the members of Congress (although I will blame them for following like sheep). And that’s why I think many of those folks have been voted out of office.

      1. saying that the stimulus bill consisted of spending increases and tax increases.

        Because apparently writing that is easier than having a fucking clue about what actually happened. It’s like the people who try to relate everything to the emperor having no clothes because that’s the only story they’ve ever read.

  4. “Speaking of which, has anybody ever nailed down Scott “Rick Perry” McInnis on this?”

    I’ve tried.  I’ve written McInnis asking about that very question.  But so far, I’ve been unable to wake the mosquitoes resting on Scooty’s lips.  

    With apologies to VP Biden, there are only three things coming from McInnis, a noun, a verb, and drill baby drill.

    “Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.”  -Edmund Burke

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