Republicans hypocritical on stimulus spending

I appreciated The Gazette's Sunday editorial, “Bad spending - except for us?,” pointing out that the Republicans' attitude toward economic stimulus spending is to slam it in public, beg for it in private. If Republicans truly believe the stimulus is such a bad thing, shouldn't their private behavior match their public rhetoric?

The conservative Wall Street Journal reported on dozens of Republican lawmakers who privately sought stimulus funds while publicly opposing the program. It isn't just Iowa's Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Steve King who belong in the “Hypocrisy Hall of Fame.”

For example: Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty used stimulus funds to balance his state's budget. Alabama's two Republican senators asked the Forest Service for $15 million and ended up getting a $6.3 million grant. Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, who called the stimulus a “wasteful spending spree” that “misses the mark on all counts,” wrote to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in October, asking her to approve a grant application from a group in his district which, he said, “intends to place 1,000 workers in green jobs.”

Hypocrisy runs through the Republicans' actions on every issue.

Lee Archerd

North Liberty