According to John Fund in today’s edition of Political Diary, Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas “remains skeptical and likely will turn down some federal money that might serve to start new programs that his state would have to pay for once the initial injection of federal funds runs out.”
Meanwhile, Brendan Miniter of Political Diary adds that some “Republican governors are already waving off federal money because they recognize it would create permanent spending obligations that state taxpayers would have to fund down the road.”
Hmm. Now where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah, that’s right. Conservative Nevada Assemblyman Ed Goedhart (R-Amargosa Valley) wrote the exact same thing two weeks ago…
“It appears likely the federal government will approve some level of ‘stimulus’ money for various states which are overspending their budgets – and that Nevada will be one of them,” Goedhart wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter to his, well, colleagues. “If so, members of the Nevada Legislature ought to insist that one-shot federal ‘stimulus’ money not be used to create new programs which we’ll only have to find additional revenue for down the road once the federal money is gone.”
Sounds like sound advice to me.
But not to moderate Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio (R-Reno), who in response to Goedhart’s “Dear Colleague” letter wrote, “Assemblyman Goedhart, I have some long term experience in this legislative process and I really don’t think I benefit from the ‘advice’ that you are offering.”
Yeah, what do Goedhart, Perry and all those Republican governors know?
