Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

Russell Pearce and Andy Tobin are saying that the state of Arizona does not need to follow the federal “MOE” requirements to get stimulus money. MOE is not a jam band or a member of the Three Stooges but is an acronym for Maintenence of Effort. It’s a fancy way for the feds to say this money is not an excuse for you not to spend your own money, you have to show that you think that these things are important enough to spend your own money.

You may remember that earlier this year, folks like Tobin and Pearce were arguing that we didn’t need to meet the MOE requirements since we didn’t want that stupid stimulus money anyway. Now that it has become obvious that that argument won’t fly for so many reasons, they now claim that the feds have to give us the money even if we don’t follow their rules.

Pearce is pointing to four other states that aren’t meeting the requirements but are getting stimulus money anyway. Pearce was quoted in the Yellow Sheet as not knowing whether or not those states had gotten waivers. Well, I checked and they did. The fact that I, some guy in Tucson, could find out with a phone call but Pearce, with staff at his disposal, didn’t bother to find out shows how much thought he has put into his argument.

Pearce is acting like some snotty teenager: crying “it’s my life” and “rebelling” against mommy and daddy, all the while demanding an allowance and room and board. If you take the feds money, you gotta play by their rules.

Maybe he and his cohort think this is like when they do their “fund sweeps” of groups like the Science Foundation. Yeah, they’ll complain, but in the end, they gotta go with him. Pearce is so used to being treated like the BMOC when he is in Phoenix, maybe he doesn’t realize that the feds don’t have to kowtow to him like his colleagues feel the need to. If the feds say, “no, you can’t do that,” is he going to have his minions send nasty e-mails to the Department of the Treasury?