Bradley in DC
02-19-2009, 07:21 AM
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/19021.html
GOP governors divide over stimulus
By: Charles Mahtesian
February 19, 2009 04:29 AM EST
While Barack Obama’s stimulus package faced nearly unanimous Republican congressional opposition, it also exposed an unmistakable fault line among the 22 GOP governors, several of whom took high-profile positions in support of the $787 billion plan.
The governors’ rift was ostensibly about the economic recovery plan, but there was another high-stakes conflict behind the scenes, marked by two competing visions of a new Republican Party represented by two governors who may face off in the 2012 GOP presidential primary.
On the one side is South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, who refers to the spending package as “a tremendous mistake.”
“The spending plan will prove to be an absolute disaster,” Sanford said in an interview. “The bottom line is that it’s horrible.”
On the other is Florida’s Charlie Crist, the popular first-term governor who appeared on stage with Obama last week to urge passage of the stimulus.
“I support the stimulus plan because, number one, we need it,” Crist told Politico. “Florida sends an awful lot of tax dollars to D.C. and we ought to get some of it back.”
Many Republican governors, including party heavyweights Mississippi’s Haley Barbour, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Alaska’s Sarah Palin and Rick Perry of Texas, have taken a hard line against what they say are the debt-increasing measures in the economic recovery bill. But Crist and a few others, most notably California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, have been more receptive to the new federal funds. . .
“[Sanford] is a guy with a longstanding philosophy and ideological approach to free markets. The dire fiscal situation in Florida is what’s driving Charlie Crist," said Republican consultant Phil Musser, a former executive director of the Republican Governors Association.
...
Sanford has been at war with his Republican-controlled legislature for much of his two terms in office, at one point bringing pigs into the State House to protest against pork-barrel politics. Crist’s appearance with Obama, who won the state in November, was viewed as an act of political heresy by some Republicans who lump him together with Arnold Schwarzenegger, another Republican mega-state governor who is at odds with party regulars. . . .
Sanford’s model is more confrontational, if not by design than in effect. Indeed, his criticism of the stimulus so rankled House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a fellow South Carolina pol, that the Democrat crafted a Sanford-inspired requirement in the final stimulus bill that forces governors to publicly accept or decline the federal money and enables state legislatures to accept the federal money in the event their governors oppose it.
“The problem with the Republican brand is that we haven’t done as advertised. We ran as conservatives and didn’t govern that way,” said Sanford. “The way out of the electoral carnage of the last few years does not rest in being all things to all people. It’s delivering on what you promised.”
“I don’t begrudge Charlie or Arnold or whoever doing what they want to do. We’ve got 50 different states and 50 different incubators,” he added. “I think it’s a mistake though.”
GOP governors divide over stimulus
By: Charles Mahtesian
February 19, 2009 04:29 AM EST
While Barack Obama’s stimulus package faced nearly unanimous Republican congressional opposition, it also exposed an unmistakable fault line among the 22 GOP governors, several of whom took high-profile positions in support of the $787 billion plan.
The governors’ rift was ostensibly about the economic recovery plan, but there was another high-stakes conflict behind the scenes, marked by two competing visions of a new Republican Party represented by two governors who may face off in the 2012 GOP presidential primary.
On the one side is South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, who refers to the spending package as “a tremendous mistake.”
“The spending plan will prove to be an absolute disaster,” Sanford said in an interview. “The bottom line is that it’s horrible.”
On the other is Florida’s Charlie Crist, the popular first-term governor who appeared on stage with Obama last week to urge passage of the stimulus.
“I support the stimulus plan because, number one, we need it,” Crist told Politico. “Florida sends an awful lot of tax dollars to D.C. and we ought to get some of it back.”
Many Republican governors, including party heavyweights Mississippi’s Haley Barbour, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Alaska’s Sarah Palin and Rick Perry of Texas, have taken a hard line against what they say are the debt-increasing measures in the economic recovery bill. But Crist and a few others, most notably California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, have been more receptive to the new federal funds. . .
“[Sanford] is a guy with a longstanding philosophy and ideological approach to free markets. The dire fiscal situation in Florida is what’s driving Charlie Crist," said Republican consultant Phil Musser, a former executive director of the Republican Governors Association.
...
Sanford has been at war with his Republican-controlled legislature for much of his two terms in office, at one point bringing pigs into the State House to protest against pork-barrel politics. Crist’s appearance with Obama, who won the state in November, was viewed as an act of political heresy by some Republicans who lump him together with Arnold Schwarzenegger, another Republican mega-state governor who is at odds with party regulars. . . .
Sanford’s model is more confrontational, if not by design than in effect. Indeed, his criticism of the stimulus so rankled House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a fellow South Carolina pol, that the Democrat crafted a Sanford-inspired requirement in the final stimulus bill that forces governors to publicly accept or decline the federal money and enables state legislatures to accept the federal money in the event their governors oppose it.
“The problem with the Republican brand is that we haven’t done as advertised. We ran as conservatives and didn’t govern that way,” said Sanford. “The way out of the electoral carnage of the last few years does not rest in being all things to all people. It’s delivering on what you promised.”
“I don’t begrudge Charlie or Arnold or whoever doing what they want to do. We’ve got 50 different states and 50 different incubators,” he added. “I think it’s a mistake though.”