GOP Govs Back Down, Request Stimulus Funds

(NEWSER) - Alaskans of all stripes are incensed by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s disparaging comments Tuesday about the necessity of volcano monitoring, the Anchorage Daily News reports. It’s “a matter of life and death in Alaska,” Sen. Mark Begich wrote the Republican. Even Gov. Sarah Palin’s office weighed in. “Of course Alaskans want to know if a volcano is going to blow,” a rep said. More»

Governors can't cherry-pick favorite parts, senator argues

(NEWSER) - Chuck Schumer thinks governors ought to have one choice when it comes to the stimulus: Take it or leave it. The New York senator is fed up with Republicans like Bobby Jindal and Mark Sanford, who want to grab some federal cash while refusing the rest on ideological grounds. “These governors should be given the choice as to whether to accept the funds,” says Schumer. “But it should not be multiple choice.” More»

Both states' revenues, budgets, legislatures create cause for alarm

(NEWSER) - Don’t look now, New Yorkers, but your state government is sinking to California-like depths of lousiness. New York’s 2010 budgetary fitness ranks below that of 33 other states in Pew’s latest ranking, trailing the likes of Louisiana, Alaska, and South Carolina. And that’s unlikely to improve, “because New York’s elected officials seem determined to make us No. 1 in dysfunction,” Chris Smith writes for New York magazine. More»

Legislature barely hits rare 75% consensus

(NEWSER) - Alaska’s legislature voted yesterday to override Sarah Palin’s veto of $28 million in stimulus cash to defray energy costs, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Such an override requires the support of 75% of votes; the measure passed by a hair. “Instead of being the last state in the union to take this money we should have been the first,” said a Democratic state senator. More»

Commerce secretary didn't know where to reach guv

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford’s recent Argentine excursion wasn’t the first time he had gone missing: His commerce secretary didn’t know where to reach him in June 2008, either, emails reveal. “Need contact number for (Sanford) ASAP,” the secretary wrote to a Sanford staffer on the 28th—a day the South Carolina governor saw his lover, he has since admitted. The email was part of 3,300 pages of communications released to the State. More»