Yesterday, the Lt. Governor, whose position is referred to in Austin as “Light Guv,” showed that the appellation is more accurate than originally thought. In an Austin American-Statesman op-ed, he wrote:
So it’s simply political fiction that stimulus dollars were necessary to balance our budget.
That’s funny. So funny that a few hours later the newspaper’s editors felt compelled to run a post correcting Dewhurst’s claim. To make it even funnier, the truth was spelled out in no uncertain terms by the Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee in the Fort Worth Business Press on Monday:
“In order to balance the budget this biennium, which is $182 billion, we used $14 billion in federal stimulus money to balance it,” said State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan. “We’re not expecting a similar amount of similar money to be available in the next two years because the federal government just doesn’t have it. So, assuming that’s true, you go into the next session with a $14 billion hole.”
Dewhurst, of course, is planning to run for Kay Hutchison’s Senate seat. Part of the preparation, apparently, is to grow his nose a little longer. (Thanks to the FrontBurnervian who sent the link.)
2 comments
Senator Ogden is not exactly being honest here. Without the stimulus, the budget would have simply been $14 billion smaller, partly due to cuts in existing spending, and partly because a portion of the would-be deficit was due to spending that was required by the stimulus bill itself. For example, the $556 million for additional unemployment benefits that Perry wanted to reject would not have been spent or received had the Legislature not overridden Gov. Goodhair.
I’m curious to see if any would-be journalist would like to research how much increased spending was mandated by the stimulus bill, and how much the Legislature spent above last year’s budget due to the increased revenue related to the stimulus bill.
Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka wrote of Dewhurst Wednesday (link below) that “there is no depth of cravenness so low that he will not seek it out in pursuit of self-promotion.”
He went on to write that “It’s pretty easy to break the code on why Dewhurst wrote this piece. The first line is very revealing: ‘Given recent comments about our state’s budget, I feel it is time to separate fact from political fiction.’ And who has been making ‘recent comments?’ Could it be Kay Bailey Hutchison? This is a not-so-veiled reference to reciprocal attacks in the governor’s race, in which the Perry campaign blasts Hutchison for supporting the TARP bailout, and the Hutchison campaign responds that Perry took $12 billion in stimulus funds. Dewhurst, ever the lapdog, writes an op-ed piece that repeats Perry’s favorite talking points….As I said at the start, there is no depth of cravenness to which he will not sink in pursuit of that senatorial appointment from Perry.
In the spirited comments section that followed, Burka withdrew the word “cravenness” because, as he put it, “I don’t think ‘craven’ is the right word, though. I didn’t intend to imply cowardice. I meant to imply a willingness to demean himself to get ahead.”
http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=5050#more-5050