Posted by
Allen Caeden on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 9:22:21 PM
The Alaska Legislature has voted to accept nearly all of the federal stimulus money and now about 60 spending bills are headed to Governor Palin’s desk and now it is time to see whether she will reject about 1/3 of the money as she originally claimed that she would. The AP has reported the following from a Palin aide:
Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said the message that Palin was going to reject stimulus funds was misconstrued. "She's never said she's rejecting anything. She's been consistent we need to hear from the public, thus the legislative hearings," Leighow said. The only funds Palin will reject, Leighow said, will be nearly $29 million for a State Energy Program she says are tied to adopting a statewide energy code.
However, the Alaskan Governor’s website makes it very clear that Sarah Palin absolutely refuses to start a single new government program mandated by the federal stimulus bill. Thus she has twenty days to sign or veto the spending bills sent to her desk. I would advise Sarah Palin to reject as much of this stimulus bill as possible, because the acceptance of or the rejection of the stimulus money will become a campaign issue in the Republican Primaries in 2012. The reason why this will be a campaign issue is because of the severe disapproval among Republicans of federal bailouts, and Sarah Palin would be wise to take this into consideration if she has her eyes on 2012.