Castling

[Ed. note – cassandra_m contributed considerably to this post.]

2009 presented quite a dilemma for Mike Castle. The Republican party required obedience from all its members for their policy of no to succeed, but Mike Castle needed to keep his moderate credentials for his voters in Delaware, a blue state. Mike Castle knew what he needed to do though, he needed to practice political Castling. In chess, castling is a defensive move where the King and the Rook change places to protect the King. Castle decided to vote no to saving our economy, along with almost all of his party, but wanted to get credit for money that comes to his district. Thus Castling was born – the Republican “trash and grab” strategy. Trash the stimulus and take credit for the benefits of the stimulus in his home district. Or, as liberalgeek described yesterday:

Isn’t “Castling” a move in chess that changes positions in a way that covers your ass?

Yes, yes it is.

Political Castling: a defensive move in politics, perfected by Mike Castle, where the politician switches positions, depending on the audience and what is popular at the time.

Today is the anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Conditions at this time in 2009 were crazy – we didn’t know whether we were about to plunge into another depression. The newly-inaugurated Obama administration proposed ARRA to help stabilize the economy and to put Americans to work. They managed to get the bill through Congress with the help of very few Republicans (and after significant weakening of the bill). Mike Castle voted with all House Republicans against the bill.   Then proceeded to come home and take credit for some of the benefits.  That’s the Castling move — saying one thing to your buds in DC and coming home to say something else to us.  But let’s take a look at what Mike Castle is telling his party in DC is so bad, but telling us is really good:

The most recent ARRA Interim Report (pdf) submitted by Lt. Governor Matt Denn to the Governor provides a good summary of the impact of of ARRA funding to Delaware’s economy (and a good summary of what Mike Castle voted against):

Delaware entities had been awarded approximately $1.48 billion in ARRA funds as of January 14, 2010. Of that amount, $968 million is administered by the State of Delaware, and as of January 14, 2010 the state had spent or encumbered at least $360 million of that amount. It is important to remember that this $968 million does not include significant portions of the stimulus package which are not administered by the state, including funds that are directed to local governments, funds that are made available directly to private entities, funds made available directly to colleges and universities, and personal income tax cuts.

Of the $968 million directly administered by the State of Delaware:

• 36% went to closing the state’s budget deficit, mostly via increased in the federal government’s share of Medicaid

• 19.5 % were sent directly to public education — local school districts, colleges and universities — expecting that maintaining teaching resources would be a priority use of these funds

• 15% were allocated to DelDOT for transportation and transit projects

• 10% awarded to programs helping Delawareans in economic distress (food assistance, unemployment, worker training)

• 4% for weatherization projects

• 4% for clean water and drinking projects

• 3% for public housing construction and enhancements

(You can see a list of the grants as of 12/31/2009 here.) These percentages are approximate and do not include direct awards to local agencies like the COPS program or housing assistance for the families of wounded or killed soldiers or research grants. And as noted above, this report doesn’t even count up the amount of money returned to Delawareans in the form of tax relief, COBRA assistance, home buyer tax credits and so on.

It is tough to remember that this time last year, this economy was in freefall. The $1.4 billion sent to Delaware from ARRA helped to fill the hole left by that freefall. It was likely not enough, but it definitely kept this economy from getting a lot worse, and helped minimize draconian cuts in education, Medicaid and vital infrastructure improvements. Mike Castle has been regularly sending out press releases and showing up for check awards for projects directly funded by ARRA — he needs to tell us how much better off he thinks the state would have been without the $1.4 billion infusion over the last year.