Childers: Nunnelee a ‘hypocrite’ on stimulus funds
State Sen. Alan Nunnelee is a hypocrite for criticizing the federal economic stimulus program while using money from it to plug state budget holes, U.S. Rep. Travis Childers said Monday as he took aim at his potential rival for the 1st District seat.
“What a hypocrite – he should be ashamed,” Childers, a Booneville Democrat, said during a Daily Journal Editorial Board meeting.
Nunnelee, a Republican from Tupelo, recently filed campaign paperwork to seek his party’s nomination for the post in 2010.
He is chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which works with its counterpart in the Mississippi House to devise the state budget.
In remarks to the editorial board, Childers noted that Nunnelee, despite his public criticism of the economic recovery program, had been willing to use stimulus money for the budget. More than $500 million from the stimulus was included in the fiscal 2010 state budget.
But Nunnelee, contacted later Monday, said the stimulus remains a costly mistake.
“It sounds to me like Mr. Childers is a little bit nervous,” Nunnelee said. “I never would have voted for the stimulus package, but he did.”
NEMS Daily Journal
8/3/9
Magnolia Tribune
