Multiple South Carolina mayors joined a conference call Friday aimed at one thing: letting Gov. Mark Sanford know they disagree with his views about federal stimulus money.
In a show of solidarity, mayors from around the state, including Anderson Mayor Terence Roberts, voiced their support of a letter being mailed to the governor and each member of the state Legislature. The letter, signed by 52 mayors, asks Sanford not to refuse or redirect portions of the $700 million available to South Carolina through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The letter calls on Sanford to accept federal money offered to help with extended unemployment benefits to part-time workers seeking full-time jobs and to not redirect money intended for other programs to instead pay off state debt.
Sanford has said he would reject the unemployment extension money and also has requested a waiver from the federal government allowing him to use some of the funds to pay off debt.
“I have come to conclude that it would be a mistake to simply accept the money as offered,” Sanford wrote to state legislators in announcing his decision. “When one is in a hole, the first order of business is to stop digging.”
But the mayors disagree. Some say they believe not using the money as offered will place the burden of the economic downturn on the cities and towns who need the dollars.
Roberts said South Carolina’s towns and municipalities, while not as big as other, larger cities, were the state’s economic lifeblood.
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1 comment:
sanford gives me the willies.
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