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29 Apr 2009 10:43 am
You may recall the Alaska governor's signature move last month. She declared that she would only take half the stimulus money:
Palin first told the news media that she's turning down nearly half the federal stimulus money -- but later conceded that does not count the Medicaid money she is accepting. That brings down what she's refusing to 31 percent of what the state government could get... Palin said she is accepting the federal stimulus money that would go for construction projects, but not funding directed at government operations. "We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government," Palin said. "In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government."
Now she's changed her mind:
She earlier called the stimulus package "an unsustainable, debt-ridden package of funds." Alaska's Legislature conducted more than 20 public hearings on the federal stimulus package, and legislative leaders said they couldn't find any of the strings attached to the funds that Palin had warned about. "The Legislature then had to come in and find out through a lot of research that simply wasn't true," Gara said of Palin's argument.
But of course, having lied about how much stimulus money she would take at the start, and lied about the strings attached to the money, she is now denying she has changed her mind on this at all:
Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said the message earlier this year 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.
I almost miss her. Almost.
(Photo: Robyn Beck/Getty.)
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by Mark Thiessen
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A spokeswoman for Sarah Palin says the Alaska governor is going to accept most federal stimulus funds.
Spokeswoman Sharon Leighow says Palin is only likely to reject nearly $29 million for State Energy Programs funds because she believes it to be tied to developing a statewide energy code.
Palin had initially indicated she did not want to accept about one-third of the $930 million available to Alaska because of strings attached that would bind the state in the future.
Legislative budget leaders couldn't find those strings, however.
Lawmakers passed bills accepting nearly all funds available to Alaska. Once the bills reach Palin's desk, likely by early next week, she has 20 days to accept or veto them.
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