Gov. Rick Perry accepts stimulus to rebuild mansion
Associated Press
Issue date: 5/22/09 Section: News
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Top budget negotiators said Thursday that a House-Senate committee agreed on the expenditures late Wednesday night. Some $11 million in federal rescue dollars would be spent to refurbish the mansion, which was badly burned in an arson fire last summer.
Around $10 million in state tax money will also be spent on a renovation expected to cost about $20 million, officials said.
"If we're going to fix it up we're going to have to use stimulus money," said Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan. "We've made a decision to use the stimulus money. This is a good use of it."
Ogden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, both said the $11 million was coming out of a $700 million rescue package for Texas - part of the massive federal stimulus pie approved earlier this year by the U.S. Congress.
The financing for the repairs was decided in a late Wednesday meeting of the budget conference committee, which Ogden and Pitts lead, both men said. The final budget still faces a vote in the House and Senate, then approval from Perry, before it can become law.
Asked if Perry approved of using federal money for the mansion, Pitts said, "He just wanted it done."
Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle released a short, written statement late Thursday.
"We are continuing to work with lawmakers on the budget," she said.
Perry, expecting a 2010 primary challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, has railed against federal bailouts and what he calls the free-spending, power-hungry ways of Washington. In January, he said Texas was endangered by Uncle Sam's "audacity."
"I can't imagine what Texas would be like if we had applied the federal government's free-spending principles over the years," he said.
The governor's mansion was being renovated when an unknown arsonist torched it in June. Perry 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.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Fed Up Texan
posted 7/23/09 @ 2:16 AM CST
Gov. Perry wouldn't accept the stimulus package to help hardworking Texans who have been laid off in the crap economy, thanks for that one George Bush, spending billions of dollars on a war that was not warranted! But since Perry didn't receive the donation funds he "wanted" he now wants the stimulus to rebuild his mansion! While Governor Perry sleep soundly in his $20 million dollar mansion where are the hard working, tax paying, laid off citizens suppose to go! That money is to be used to the people of this state, to rebuild the mess republicans made. (Continued…)
Deeply confused
posted 1/08/10 @ 2:36 PM CST
I do not understand how this renovation got approved- along with the $9, 900 rent per month- I can't imagine what type of housing that includes. What I would like to know is who uses this space? What happens here that can't be done for a reasonable cost?
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