In Scott Henson’s blog, Grits for Breakfast, he discusses the unspoken hypocrisy that Gov. Perry has shown regarding the stimulus money President Obama is offering. According to Henson Gov. Perry has refused the $600 million set aside from the federal stimulus package to help pay people on unemployment. The main argument is that this will place a huge burden on the private companies down the road who will have to pay these funds back. However, he has not batted an eye regarding stimulus money aimed at increasing law enforcement. Per Henson the outcome is the same, paying back long term for a short term fix.
Henson, who has worked for the ACLU and who has helped to police the police grass roots organizations, states that hiring all these officers on “a layaway plan-hire now, pay later” will not place the state’s economic future in any better standing than borrowing the money to help pay for unemployment wages. It appears that his concerns, and those of the people who commented on his blog, is that these agencies will begin to make more frivolous arrests and traffic violations to pay for what they’ve borrowed. His main question is if Perry rejects the first part of the stimulus should he not reject this part as well?
Henson’s blog is poignant and should be scrutinized a little further. Given his background in investigating law enforcement, I would recommend readers to take stock in his arguments. I am not a political analyst or a political anything really, but what I read into this issue is that it’s ok to have to pay back excessive stimulus funds on the backs of the taxpayers as long as the private companies (who maybe line Perry’s pockets?) go unburdened.
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