Say this much for members of Idaho's congressional delegation: They had the good sense not to go totally hypocritical when stimulus funds they voted against began flowing from Washington into the Gem State.
The really far-out hypocrites, such as Louisiana's Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, condemned President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as "irresponsible," then happily, unapologetically posed with a large mockup check of stimulus millions he was to receive. Jindal now is pleading with Washington for even more hundreds of millions in rescue funds because of the Gulf oil spill.
As for Idaho's congressmen, after voting against the $800 billion stimulus program, Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch and Reps. Mike Simpson and Walt Minnick have abandoned their criticisms of the cost of the program and welcomed funds flowing into state programs.
Idaho is one of 19 states receiving job-training funds—$154,748 so far—from the Federal Highway Administration. Another $30 million has been designated for weatherization of low-income Idaho homes. Stimulus money also is funding $468 million in nuclear waste cleanup at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls. Eight Idaho highway projects are beneficiaries of stimulus appropriations.
To the man, Idaho's congressmen denied it was hypocritical to oppose President Obama's economic rescue, then welcome—and even apply for—spending of millions in Idaho.
Oh? Logic suggests if the stimulus was a bad idea when they voted against it, the Idaho delegation as a matter of principle would continue to oppose it back home.
But that wouldn't be good politics, would it? They want to impress Idaho's conservative voters as tough-minded, frugal, small-government champions, but then claim it's only reality to grab what they can of dollars they once thought too expensive.
Unhappily for Idaho's public needs and public services, the state's political establishment persists in a mindset that only punishes taxpayers. The condition of roads and bridges is a scandal. Public school properties have been neglected to the point of shameful disrepair in many cases. Short-sighted tax policy over the years has left the state budget gasping for revenues—even though the books carry $1.6 billion or more in tax breaks.
There's no honor in imposing suffocating economic policies on a state to the point of cheating taxpayers of proper services, then hoping for a Washington bailout.
If Idaho was a child and its congressmen and state legislators were parents, and state budget philosophies were food, the grownups would be charged with criminal neglect for ladling out starvation rations.
