Texas Gov. Perry spending $11 mil of stimulus on home repairs

Perry is the guy who got a lot of press by rejecting federal stimulus funds to help his constituents who are suffering from the effects of the financial crisis.  He even threatened that Texas would seccede from the union if Washington didn't reign in its stimulus spending.  Now he's spending $11,000,000 of federal stimulus money to fix up the governor's mansion while thousands of Texas homes are foreclosed on?  What an ass!

from Jed Lewison at the Daily Kos:  TX-Gov: $11 mil from stimulus to repair Perry's mansion

So what do you do when you're an anti-spending, pro-secession conservative governor whose publicly-owned mansion needs $21 million in repairs to recover from fire damage?

Apparently, you do something like this (via diarist gsadamb [update: and also Velvet Revolution]):

AUSTIN, Texas – While Gov. Rick Perry is criticizing Washington bailouts, state lawmakers are planning to use $11 million in federal stimulus money to help rebuild the badly burned Texas Governor's Mansion.

Approximately $10 million in state tax money will also be spent on a renovation, which is expected to cost about $20 million, officials said Thursday.

This, of course, is the same Rick Perry who, along with a handful of other Republican extremists,rejected stimulus money for jobless Texans, and recently said that Texas would consider seceding if the federal government didn't dramatically cut spending.

Perry's office says he's working with the Republican lawmakers who are securing the federal funds, but don't be surprised if Perry changes his tune on the renovations once word starts to get out about the $11 million federal price tag.

Don't cry for him while this all gets worked out, however -- he's currently living in a publicly-funded $10,000 per month rental.

The governor has been living in a three-story, limestone home with a heated pool, an outdoor cabana and a guest house.

The state is paying some $9,900-a-month in rent while the Governor's Mansion undergoes renovations, records show.

Being the "frugal secessionist" is such hard work, isn't it?