Democrat Governor Joins the Reject the Stimulus Club

It seems Republican governors aren’t the only ones seeing the problem with the stimulus bill recently signed by President Obama. A Democrat has now joined the club. After a governors meeting with Obama, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen said that Tennessee may be one of the states that refuse some of the money.

Like the other governors, he is concerned about the portion of the money earmarked for unemployment programs. If his state takes the money, it will be required to expand its unemployment program. The problem is that when the Federal money is gone, these states will be left holding the bag to fund an even larger unemployment program than they had before. As a result, they would be forced to raise business taxes to make up the shortfall. Most governors feel it would be unwise to raise taxes on businesses in a recession when jobs are being lost by the thousands. Here’s Bredesen’s take on it:

“We are evaluating this piece of money, whether it makes sense for us to take it…We have an unemployment fund which is not in good shape right now. We’re in the position of going back to our Legislature this year for changes in our tax structure just to keep our fund whole, and taking it to a new level may be too much of a lift for the Legislature this spring.”

I wonder if Rep. Clyburn (D-SC) will say the same thing about Bredesen as he said about the Republican governors who said they may reject part of the funds. You know, the bit where he pulled the race card and said if they didn’t accept the money, it would be a slap in the face of African-Americans. Here’s what Clyburn said:

“The governor of Louisiana expressed opposition. Has the highest African-American population in the country. Governor of Mississippi expressed opposition. The governor of Texas, and the governor of South Carolina. These four governor’s represent states that are in the black belt. I was insulted by that. All of this was a slap in the face of African-Americans.”

We’ll wait and see if Clyburn calls Bredesen a racist as well. I doubt it will happen and I doubt the media will call him on it. Nevertheless, if he doesn’t then he’s a coward and a hypocrite.

Hey Governor Bredesen, as a fellow Tennessean and a fiscal conservative I salute your decision to mind the state’s pocket book and manage Tennessee’s tax dollars in a way that will promote Tennessee jobs. I hereby name you Conservative Unleashed’s Democrat of the Month!