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...Martinez is leaving in 2010 - has retained high approval ratings despite Florida's dire straits. He attributes them largely to the fact that "I don't come down on issues in terms of ideology." But that has put him at odds over the stimulus with most in Florida's GOP congressional delegation, including Martinez, whom Crist has lobbied hard in recent weeks to join the so far struggling bipartisan effort Obama is pushing in Washington. On the eve of Obama's visit to Florida - which Obama won in November - Crist was shuttling between calls to Martinez, urging him to come...
...Tuesday, Martinez, like most of his GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill, appeared to be sticking to his guns, criticizing the bill for supposedly wasteful spending and not enough tax cuts. But Crist insists those concerns shouldn't override "the fact that this thing is going to pass in any case. This is also Florida taxpayers' hard-earned money, and we have to fight for our fair share of the dollars...
...enviable position these days, as he gets hit from all sides. Fiscal conservatives say his Accelerate Florida spending hasn't stopped the state's unemployment rate from rising above 8%, while those on the left say his lowering of Florida's exorbitant property taxes has given the GOP-led legislature an excuse to make steep budget cuts in schools and health care - cuts that Crist last month had to step in and reverse amid citizen complaints. "I'm a fiscal conservative," says Crist, "but I just returned from visiting an unemployment office in Orlando, and something has to be done...
...price worth paying "to get America moving again." However, Sanford and other conservative governors, like Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, Mississippi's Haley Barbour and Alaska's Sarah Palin - all of whom signed a statement last week against Obama's plan - fear that the moderates are selling out the GOP in the long run for a short-term spending orgy. They also object to what even moderate Republicans worry are cumbersome strings attached to the federal largesse. "I will oppose any stimulus package that results in federal control over state-administered programs," said Barbour. Sanford, who on Monday night...
Still, even if a GOP guv were to reject federal stimulus money on principle, the legislation may give state legislatures power to take it anyway - a tool even Republicans in the Texas legislature said this week they're ready to use. But it's unlikely to come to that, especially since governors who oppose the stimulus don't lose anything - and gain a free infusion of cash - when the stimulus dollars start rolling...