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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Legislators to Sarah Palin: We will not sacrifice our state on the altar of your presidential aspirations
Posted by Jill | 4:22 AM
Sarah Palin, like her fellow Republican useful idiots and 2012 hopefuls Bobby Jindal and Mark Sanford, thinks that somehow refusing federal stimulus money that might be used to help keep schools open and fire departments running and help families keep food on the table for a while after they lose their jobs will be seen as a badge of honor in 2010. Perhaps they're right, at least among their insane base, who listen to Rush Limbaugh claim that Barack Obama = Robert Mugabe and Tammy Bruce calling Michelle Obama "trash in the White House" and Glenn Beck weeping on the air that our nation is in grave danger from the centrist Democrat occupying the White House. These are people who will call Obama a fascist and a socialist in the same breath, who said nothing while George W. Bush was actually BUILDING internment camps and saying that you're either with the Administration or the terrorists; but now insist that it's Barack Obama who's going to use them to round up white conservative Christians. All this trouble to avoid saying the "N" word.

These are the people to whom Sarah Palin hopes to appeal -- people dumb enough to still believe in "trickle-down" economics and embrace their lack of a job, their lack of a home, and their lack of a future in the name of these politicians invoking Jeebus to advance their political careers.

But the Alaska legislature is saying "Not so fast, bitch":
Top Alaska legislators said Tuesday they're likely to accept at least most of the federal economic stimulus money that Gov. Sarah Palin did not.

"I think at the end of the day we will end up taking most of the funds," said Anchorage Republican Rep. Mike Hawker, who is leading the House effort on the stimulus as co-chairman of the finance committee.

Senate Majority Leader Johnny Ellis agreed. "I would be surprised if we give up much or any of the federal money," the Anchorage Democrat said.

Palin announced last week she was not accepting $288 million of the $930.7 million that the state is due in the federal stimulus. Palin aides have said in the days since that the governor did not reject any money, leading some state legislators to charge the governor with backpedaling as a result of furor over the announcement.

The biggest chunk of money at issue is about $170 million for education. School district officials are mad, and Anchorage Democratic Rep. Harry Crawford said he doesn't expect legislators to withhold the money.

"I don't see anybody getting in front of that train," he said.

Senate President Gary Stevens, a Republican from Kodiak, said he's especially interested in the money that would go for special education and schooling for disadvantaged children. Stevens said his meetings with the governor prior to her stimulus announcement had given him the impression she was going to go after more of the money and he was surprised to hear otherwise last week.

But legislators do have questions about the stimulus package and plan on hearings in the coming weeks to sort out the details. Some share Palin's view that accepting federal money could create expectations among the public for services that the state would need to either fund or abandon after the federal dollars stopped coming.

"I am very concerned and I know Alaskans are about what we're about to do here," said Fairbanks Republican Rep. Mike Kelly.

DID PALIN REJECT MONEY?

Palin aides have said the past few days that the governor has been mischaracterized.

"The governor has not rejected any funds -- that I think was perhaps the interpretation and I know certainly in some of the coverage of the press event last week," Karen Rehfeld, the governor's budget director, told the House Finance Committee on Tuesday.

But Senate Majority Leader Ellis, a Democrat, said Palin's announcement "seemed very clear to me about rejecting one-third of the stimulus dollars. ... There's backtracking and explanation going on now."

Wasilla Republican Sen. Charlie Huggins said there was a shift in tone as a result of the public outcry that followed Palin's announcement last week that she wasn't accepting the money.

"The (Palin) administration worked through the weekend and they fixed some of their slides based on public sentiment. And that's the way the democratic process works: It's not good, it's not bad, it's just sobering," he said.

Chugiak Republican Rep. Bill Stoltze, however, disputes that Palin is changing the message and said she was just being cautious about the money.

"I looked at the governor's statement and I didn't hear a rejection." he said.

The governor or the Legislature must formally ask for the federal stimulus money available to Alaska in order for the state to receive it. Palin announced last week that she was only requesting the portion that would go for construction and infrastructure and that "in essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government."

She made arguments for not accepting the money -- including that some has strings attached and that the state might be left to pick up the tab if people expect programs to go on after the federal money runs out. But Palin also said she would work with legislators and that a public discussion is needed about what should happen with the money -- "more opportunity for more information," the governor called it.

A reporter asked Palin at the time if it was fair to say she was rejecting the money.

"If that's the way you want to look at it," she replied.


Refusing to accept stimulus money is simply grandstanding on the part of cynical Republican politicians who see political advantage on Fox News to doing so, but think nothing of refusing to ameliorate the hardship of the people in their states. It's especially galling for Sarah Palin, who once again trots out her Downs Syndrome baby -- you know, the one whose face she can't bear to even look at, the one she endangered by flying from Texas to Alaska after her water broke -- and use him as a cudgel to beat Barack Obama over the head after an ill-advised crack on The Tonight Show about the Special Olympics. Then, of course, after Trig has served his purpose, she goes and rejects funding that might benefit kids like him.

One can only hope that Alaska legislators consider the plight of towns like Emmonak before they decide that Sarah Palin's 2012 aspirations are more important than putting food on the tables and oil in the furnaces of the native people of their state.

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