There has been some conversation recently (and some political posturing) about the several GOP Governors making noises about not taking the stimulus money (which IMHO would be political suicide).
There has been some conversation recently (and some political posturing) about the several GOP Governors making noises about not taking the stimulus money (which IMHO would be political suicide).
My good friend C.B. Forgotston in his blog http://forgotston.com today points out that there is a provision in the stimulus bill by which, if a state's Governor is foolish enough to reject all or a portion of the money and programs provided to the state via the stimulus bill that the legislature can override the "knucklehead" and take the money.
EC. 1607. (a) CERTIFICATION BY GOVERNOR Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, for funds provided to any State or agency thereof, the Governor of the State shall certify that: 1) the State request and use funds provided by this Act , and; 2) funds be used to create jobs and promote economic growth.
(b) ACCEPTANCE BY STATE LEGISLATURE If funds provided to any State in any division of this Act are not accepted for use by the Governor, then acceptance by the State legislature, by means of the adoption of a concurrent resolution, shall be sufficient to provide funding to such State.
It's difficult to imagine a Governor (even "I'm educated and intelligent, but not too smart sometimes" Bobby Jindal making that decision, but you never know.
One day soon he's going to have to make a decision as to whether he's going to represent the people of Louisiana or run for higher office. He can't have it both ways.
Addendum: It's going to be interesting to watch Jindal walk the "which side are you really on" tightrope since he was "picked" to give the GOP/RLP rebuttal to President Obama's (oh how I like to write that) address to congress on the 24th.