The Arizona Republic's Political Insider blog has a post up laying out Governor Jan Brewer's use of discretionary federal stimulus money. There's an interesting pattern.
From the post (the stuff in parentheses is the Rep's explanation of the purposes of the funding ) -
STATE FISCAL STABILIZATION FUND--USES OF THE GOVERNMENT SERVICES FUNDInteresting. She allocated $55,014,097 for healthcare and children's programs, but the vast majority of that ($54,897,824, or 99.7%) was to backfill budget cuts to social safety net programs that she had enacted in the first place.
EXPENDITURE CATEGORIES
Education Reform
Teach for America $2,000,000
Education Information Systems $3,000,000 (computers, to meet requirements of federal program.)
Education Innovation Project $1,636,374 (Race to the Top funding.)
Health Care and Children’s Programs
DHS Community Health $11,600,000 (Restores a budget cut to community-health centers.)
DHS ASH $116,273 (Arizona State Hospital. Money used to repair the security system.)
DES Autism $2,297,824 (Restores a budget cut to this research program.)
DES DD $15,000,000 (Restores a budget cut to developmentally disabled services.)
DES Children’s Services $18,000,000 (Restores a budget cut to this item.)
DES Adoption Services $2,500,000 (Restores a budget cut to this item.)
DES CPS $5,500,000 (Restores a budget cut to Child Protective Services.)
Public Safety
Corrections $50,000,000 (Restores a budget cut to the prisons budget.)
Border Security Enhancement $10,000,000 (grant money to border cities and counties.)
Public Safety Stabilization $10,000,000 (Grants to 140 local governments for public safety.)
Supplemental P.S. Projects $6,545,494 (money to Corrections, Dept. of Public Safety.)
ADOA Public Safety Project $1,700,000 (Coliseum roof repair.)
Innovation, Technology and Economic Development
Commerce Economic Dev. $15,000,000 (Various grants, including $2 million for algae research.)
Commerce Job Training $12,000,000 (Restored funding that had been cut.)
Commerce Jobs Agenda $12,000,000 (Money for a deal-closing fund for business.)
AZ Technology Enhancement (ADOA) $182,079 (Money to help Dept. of Administration track stimulus dollars and other federal funds.)
Arizona County Projects
$4,007,797 (To restore budget cuts to small, rural counties.)
Office of Economic Recovery
$2 million (To administer the stimulus program from the Governor's Office.)
Total: $185,085,841
Something that definitely fits in with her demand of critics of her cutting funding for transplants for AHCCCS patients, saying that people who are so concerned over poor people dying for a lack of funds "should ask the federal government in Washington to send us more money."
Apparently, she thoroughly believes that taking care of the people of Arizona falls outside of the responsibilities/obligations of the governor of Arizona.
She's all in favor of funnelling public money into the pockets of those who can afford to hire professional lobbyists (like those who are her advisers).
But the people who she was elected/hired to advocate for? They exist only to provide the money that she is funnelling through those lobbyists.
1 comment:
The Democratic Party lobby certainly has two years (at least) to throw stones and I certainly hope you throw some good ones. This post not being one of them.
You are complaining here that the discretionary stimulus money was alloted to backfilling budget cuts instead of being spent on transplants. What solutions are the Democrats going to propose beyond K. Sinema's liposuction tax?
There are only three answers: more taxes, more borrowing or less spending elsewhere. Where is the money to pay for transplants going to come from?
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