Mark Sanford's Stiff-Arm From Obama

Last weekend's Wall Street Journal featured a revealing editorial by South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

Governor Sanford made headlines last month when he voiced his opposition to the terms of the so-called Congressional stimulus bill.

Worried, like so many other governors, about being forced to spend money on programs which won't go away when their federal funding does, Sanford spoke out loudly against the tactic. As a result, Democrats in Congress inserted a clause allowing state legislatures to accept the funding over the veto of their state's governor.

However, having been outmaneuvered on this, Sanford tried a different tack. He requested a waiver of spending the stimulus funds as directed by Congress. Instead, he asked to be allowed to pay down some of South Carolina's debt, the interest on which consumes 11% of the state's annual tax revenue.

Sanford reasoned that this is an unarguably good thing to do for the relatively poor state. According to Sanford,

"In fact, paying debt related to education would free up over $162 million in debt service in the first two years and save roughly $125 million in interest payments over the next 13 years- just as paying off a family's mortgage early frees up money for other uses.

Spending stimulus money on ongoing programs would mean 10% of our entire state budget would be paid for with one-time federal funds- the largest recorded level in state history."

Sanford continued his piece, stating,

"Last week, I reached out to the president, asking for a federal waiver from restrictions on stimulus money. I got a most unusual response. Before I even received an acknowledgement of the request from the White House, I got word that the Democratic National Committee was launching campaign-style TV attack-ads branding me for making it.

Is this the new brand of politics we were promised?

Nevertheless, the White House declined my request for a waiver yesterday afternoon."

Governor Sanford's experience is quite revealing about Wonderboy's real purpose in directing spending of the stimulus largess. So much for state's using it for what they think best. Once again, Democrats at the federal level think they know what is best for everyone else, at all lower levels of government....and society.