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White House nixes Sanford's stimulus redirect: Is this any way to run for president?
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Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) prepares to snatch a
sandwich from the hands of a laid-off worker,
so he can sell it to pay down the state debt.
(AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain, File)
Poor Mark Sanford. So desperate is the South Carolina governor to prove his Republican-ness to his flailing, disjointed party, that he was willing to sacrifice the well-being of his own citizens to make what generously could be referred to as "a point."
Don't send me your filthy Washington money! cried Sanford. Faced with the unbearable prospect of billions in stimulus dollars injected into his state, Sanford declared his intention to refuse the funds unless he could use them to reduce South Carolina's debt. Today, however, the White House called his bluff and told him that the statute does not allow the money to be used for anything other than direct, immediate economic stimulus. President Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag, wrote today:
During this severe economic downturn, Congress and the president wanted to provide states and localities with emergency funding in order to prevent the layoffs of teachers, police officers and other vital public servants. [ . . . ]
Congress has not authorized the executive branch to waive any of the above statutory requirements governing the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. Accordingly, states' spending . . . must satisfy the statutory requirements.
It's unclear whether Sanford will now move to reject the funds outright, or if he even can, considering that South Carolina's Republican-led legislature stands ready to override any such attempts.
Common wisdom holds that this is a bit of theatre on Sanford's part, somehow positioning himself for a presidential run in 2012. But there is something missing in this (or his) logic, because there is real pain being felt in South Carolina, and honest to goodness economic stimulus is badly needed by real people. He has claimed that the responsibility for caring for the needy must be placed on the various nonprofit and philanthropic groups, but I'm not sure if the governor has read the paper lately, because there is a economic crisis going on. When the economy suffers, charitable groups suffer right along. So just as people need more help, the nonprofits are less able to provide it. Per Amy Goldstein in the Washington Post last week:
Timothy Ervolina, president of the United Way Association of South Carolina, worries that the web of philanthropic and nonprofit groups may not be able to fulfill the governor's expectations. Ervolina has watched fundraising fade at United Ways across the state, even as calls pour in to their crisis hotlines.
"Policymakers have said, 'You guys are just going to have to step up to the plate.' I hear that," he said. "But when I step up to the plate and no ball even is coming at you, it's pretty hard to make a hit."
He added: "We are increasingly taking on the role of a community grief counselor. Something has got to give, and that something is going to be people's lives."
Add to this the fact that South Carolina's unemployment leaped from around 8.8 percent in December to 10.4 percent in January (and is likely to be even higher today), and it's plain to see that South Carolina cannot weather this economic storm unaided. People need jobs, food, and shelter, not a lessened state debt. I point once again to the same Post article, to clarify:
Amid the job losses, lives are coming unglued. Sheila Turman turned to Columbia's largest food bank, Harvest Hope, a few weeks ago -- the first time in her 52 years she had ever asked a nonprofit for help.
"I was hungry," she said. "You don't know how I wanted a glass of milk."
Turman had worked steadily since she was 15, until she was laid off from her job as a leasing agent at her apartment complex before Christmas. Two weeks after she missed her February rent payment, an eviction notice came. She borrowed a neighbor's car to go to the Department of Social Services to try to get food stamps. But after waiting more than 2 1/2 hours, she had to leave to return the car.
"That wasn't even to apply," she said. "That was to get an appointment to apply."
How exactly would a reduced state debt help Shelia get a glass of milk?
Given all this, one can only assume that Sanford intends to win the presidency while losing his home state. He must be envisioning a 49-state sweep, in the midst of which a startled President Obama stands defeated, clinging only to South Carolina's eight electoral votes. Even considering he is merely posturing for the Republican nomination, isn't South Carolina, you know, an important primary state? Would even his Republican constituents forgive him for rejecting this badly-needed aid?
Perhaps he expects that South Carolina's citizens, not following the news because they cannot afford a television or a computer, while dizzy and delusional from hunger, will vote for him anyway.
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