Florida has done the worst at spending stimulus bill transportation money, with only 2 percent of its available highway construction money being used already, according to a congressional study.

Hawaii and South Carolina were second- and third-worst in getting money out the door.

In a scolding letter, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee told Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to step it up.

“I strongly urge you to refocus your efforts to implement the Recovery Act and use the available funds to create and sustain family-wage jobs,” wrote Rep. James L. Oberstar, Minnesota Democrat. He sent similar letters to the governors of Hawaii and South Carolina on Thursday.

Mr. Oberstar sent congratulatory letters to the three top-performing states: Wyoming, which has allocated more than three-quarters of its transportation money; New Hampshire, with 64 percent; and Oklahoma, at 53 percent.

All three low-performing states have Republican governors, while the three top-performing states have Democratic governors.

South Carolina, which has allocated 3 percent, ranked ahead of Hawaii, which has no projects underway …a spokesman for South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford referred questions to the state transportation department. A spokesman there said they were looking into Mr. Oberstar’s charge.

Mr. Sanford, meanwhile, was among the most vehement opponents of the bill, even going so far as to try to turn down funding.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/07/3-states-scolded-for-funds-unspent/

This nutcase belief system is what keeps him from resigning.

This is written about in a book called, “The Family”.

The more I learn about Sanford and his religious fantasies the more I believe he needs to go.
I talked to God last night about this and he agrees that Sanford has a “screw loose”- his words.

Lloyd may or may not fix the problem. I don’t know him so I can’t say. But make no mistake about it…these people are thugs and Lloyd has his hands full!

If Lloyd is serious about reform, he had better watch his back. These people play for keeps.

As bad as all the parts of the whole saga of Gov. Mark Sanford’s disappearance are, the aspect that I find the most troubling is the report that his trip had originally been planned as a 10-day Argentina rendezvous. He cut his trip short only after learning of the firestorm back home. What kind of governor books a 10-day international getaway and fails to inform the lieutenant governor or his staff? What kind of governor demonstrates such a disregard for the job he was elected to do? Answer: a governor who thinks his job is just a hobby.

We were promised during the 2002 campaign that the new Republican governor would be a leader, someone who would work to make South Carolina a better place. But what we got was something different altogether. We got Mark Sanford.

During his first year in office, a contentious state budget debate was raging in Columbia. State leaders were facing tough decisions on South Carolina’s future. Instead of being at the capitol to offer critical leadership and help broker an agreement, Sanford was off in Bermuda enjoying a yacht race. And as the state’s unemployment rate began to rise to one of the worst in the nation, where was Gov. Sanford? On a statewide bicycle ride. And recently we learned about pleasure trips to China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Thailand, Hong Kong and Uruguay from the e-mail exchanges with his Argentine mistress.

If we polled the business leaders who have considered South Carolina for an expansion or location but chose to go elsewhere, there is no doubt that they would affirm the fact that Sanford’s cavalier attitude toward his job has hurt our state. I have heard it from business leaders in South Carolina.

As Mark Sanford enters his final years as governor, one word can be used to describe his legacy: failure. Failure to lead, failure to accomplish anything, failure to govern. Time magazine named him one of the nation’s worst governors in 2006 for good reason. South Carolina has fallen further and further behind; our state’s once-solid reputation as a formidable economic development powerhouse has been reduced to a national embarrassment.

We were promised leadership, but all we got was a part-time governor who lacks any real commitment to his job.

SEN. JOHN C. LAND III

Senate Democratic Leader

Manning

http://www.thestate.com/letters/story/891492.html