Monica Davey is attempting to give local citizens a heads up regarding local and state battles that will, and have begun to, ensue over President Obama’s stimulus package. In “States and Cities in Scramble for Stimulus Cash” in the NY Times the reader is given enough information from both Democrats and Republicans, and national and state leaders to understand some of the intricacies of the one hundred page package few are able to weed through. On our local news we have already begun to hear many of the arguments and pleas for funding on specific projects in and out of our area. The bill has not even been signed yet and already Mayors in North Carolina are via for transportation funds. Our governor in South Carolina has always been opposed to any pork spending, even if it creates jobs, because as he is once again saying; in the long run we the taxpayers will be footing the bill for federal pork-barrel spending. I am not sure if all Republicans, or SC citizens, are on board with what Sanford is saying. Seeing our state funds cut across the board to balance the state budget while other states are requesting funds for items like ATV park trails in California is a tough stance to hold. As the case often is, we must allow our elected leaders to make some difficult decisions and only hope they are the best decisions for all citizens in our state.
I know the purpose of Davey’s article was not to point out South Carolina specifically, but to make the average American aware of the battles yet to come before we begin to see any of the promises of the stimulus bill come to fruition. I just can’t get past the thought of Bobby Harrell and the Finance Committee planning the jobs they would create for our state, and then discovering Governor Sanford will not participate in the groveling for federal funds allocated through the stimulus package.
Davey does write for the NY Times, so she may be a little bias to the left, but I did not hear that in the tone of this article. Davey appears to be a straight up political writer who is just trying to break down one piece of this giant puzzle the President calls a stimulus package. The aspect of this article is that caught my attention right off is that it really is written to and for Joe citizen; very unique for the NY Times.
