Politics Takes a Nasty Turn....

This weekend Governors from the 50 states are meeting in Washington DC at the annual meeting of the National Governors Association.

The meeting provides Governors the opportunity to be briefed by the President, as well as key administration officials on a number of issues critical to state operations and federal funding.

On the national morning TV talk shows today, a small number of GOP Governors including Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi, are criticizing the President’s economic stimulus package. Those Governors are stating their intent to turn down all or part of their state’s share of the President’s Economic Stimulus Package.

Put simply, they are saying no to federal money to create jobs and fund projects in their states in the middle of a global economic crisis and staggeringly high unemployment that has not yet bottomed out.

Other GOP senators, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Governor Charlie Crist of Florida stated their support for the Economic Stimulus Bill and also said if their fellow GOP Governors were not going to take the money, they would be more than happy to take those states’ share. As did all of the Democratic Governors.

In the middle of a growing economic crisis, with deepening state debt and unemployment, what would make a Governor dismiss the rare opportunity to receive significant federal money to stimulate jobs and the state economy?
The beginnings of the 2012 Presidential Race, of course!

Instead of noting the popularity and demand of voters throughout the Country in the 2008 Presidential campaign to eliminate politics as usual, several Republican Governors are choosing to play hardball partisan politics at a time when their constituents are hurting most.

Not that any of the dissenting Governors have EVER shied away from trying to get federal earmarks and appropriations, or ever objected to federal spending in their states before.

Governors Jindal, Barbour and some of their colleagues are beginning to position themselves as possible opponents to President Obama in 2012. Hoping to prove the federal stimulus package as a federal, bureaucratic, big-government debacle bringing no relief to the economic disaster the US is facing, these early contenders are staking out their position against Republicans in Congress that supported the President, as well as their fellow GOP Governors who are taking the money.

The worse part about this cynical ploy is the hypocrisy of these comments especially by Governors Jindal and Barbour. The states of Louisiana and Mississippi have both struggled and never fully recovered from the economic tragic devastation of Hurricane Katrina, where hundreds of people were killed. The Bush Administration seemingly abandoned the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Governors, along with their Congressional delegations, have struggled to get aid and find ways to stabilize the Cities and communities along the Gulf of Mexico.

The horrible mismanagement of the disaster by the Bush Administration is one of the lasting legacies of shame for the previous Republican President and his team. As the economy and life slowly was starting to settle back down after the tragic hurricane and the hideous lack of aid, the global economic crisis has recreated a new wave of economic devastation and difficulty for many of those same residents to continue rebuilding their lives and their families.

How anyone could stand in the way of helping citizens, families and voters in any state during this economic crisis is shocking. The comments by these Governors may only be posturing and may not really result in Governor’s turning down federal money.
However, if this posturing to define bold opposition to a popular President and create a role in the reorganized Republican Party hurts any program and any person in those states, I hope their voters will hold those Governors responsible for extending the deep pain of the people of their states and the ploy to play politics with tools that aim to help their residents.