Alaska Gov. Palin Will Now Sign Legislation Accepting Nearly All Stimulus Funds

After joining the ranks of some other Republican critics of the federal stimulus legislation as well as the Obama Administration, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin now intends to sign legislation and accept all but one $29 million dollar energy program funds out of the total $930 million dollars in funds earmarked for Alaska. Interestingly, Palin attempted to join Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal recently by complaining that many programs had "strings attached" that forced ongoing state funding once the federal funding ran out. However, after state legislators conducted more than 20 hearings on various portions of the stimulus legislation, no evidence turned up to support the claims by Sarah Palin, and Alaska's legislature passed legislation to enact the stimulus funds to help the state of Alaska.

As part of damage control, since Palin's claims of federal strings attached to the stimulus funds were untrue and unfounded, Palin's spokesperson, Sharon Leighow, now claims that Palin "never said she's rejecting anything. She's been consistent that we need to hear from the public, thus the legislative hearings".

Palin's turnabout is typical of a few Republicans position who are seeking higher office soapboxing on the federal stimulus funds issue. While some governors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger of California are pragmatic and appreciate the role of the federal government working to lessen the problems of the states, some like Jindal and Palin with presidential ambitions want to attack Washington for political points, while at the same time accepting nearly all of the stimulus funds for their states.

Unfortunately truth and honesty often, appears to be the first casualty of a few who seek higher office, while other governors simply seek to do the best for their citizens, regardless of their own political party.

In other publicity seeking news, Palin plans to be a guest on AMERICAN CHOPPER of all shows. Maybe the name confused her. The program is called AMERICAN CHOPPER, not AMERICAN SHOPPER. One is all about bikes, while the other is all about buying lots of clothes. Maybe WHAT NOT TO WEAR might be a choice for her to appear on.