on 02-27-2009 01:35

By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE - Exuding an amity unseen recently on many issues, Gov. Donald Carcieri and legislative leaders joined Thursday to debunk reports of bickering between them on how Rhode Island's share of the federal stimulus money can and will be spent, as the governor signed a letter to President Barack Obama certifying that the state will indeed accept and use the funds.

"This is going to be a cooperative process," Carcieri pledged at a Statehouse ceremony Thursday afternoon. "We are all in this together. I fully respect and expect that the legislature's job is to approve these things and appropriate the money going forward.
"This is not a case of my office or the governor saying, 'I am going to make all the decisions, we're going to do it this way.' No. This is going to be done very collectively, cooperatively and I am committed to that," Carcieri told legislators and reporters at the event. "It is not a question of a power grab by anybody or is someone going to control this; that isn't going to happen."
The Office of Economic Recovery and Reinvestment (OERR) will monitor and report on how the stimulus money is spent, but will not be making decisions as to what money goes where, the governor said in response to questions. Carcieri created the OERR by executive order and installed his deputy chief of staff Beverly Najarian as its director.
Carcieri said that during his trip to Washington last weekend for the National Governors Conference, President Obama and administration officials made it clear to governors that "our necks are on the line" to account for how the money is spent, and that will be the purpose of the OERR.
Referring to accounts of disputes between the legislative and executive branches, House Speaker William Murphy said, "I can tell you that is simply not true. This idea that there has been bickering about who controls the money is nonsense.
"We are all in agreement," Murphy said, "that the General Assembly, as we do in all cases, has the responsibility to appropriate the federal funds that come to Rhode Island in the stimulus package.
"We will appropriate those funds," Murphy vowed, "in a transparent and accountable manner in which there are public hearings."
The Speaker also asserted that "all 39 cities and towns need to be touched by some portion of the stimulus money and we will see to it that that does happen," including education and transportation funds.
Echoing the governor, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed called the signing of the acceptance letter "a remarkable and historic moment" for the state "not just because of the federal funds that are coming into the state, but because of the collaborative spirit in which the branches of government have worked together."
Paiva Weed boasted that Rhode Island "is perhaps the only state that has been successful this quickly to bring together chief executive offices and legislative offices to agree on what precisely the economic stimulus plan means for our state."
She stressed that the infusion of federal funds "does not eliminate the need to make difficult decisions at the local and state level" about the necessity of budget cuts and savings.
Carcieri cautioned that the stimulus money is not "a pot of gold" to be distributed to cities and towns, institutions of higher education and community groups. "That is not the case. When you go through the allocations, at the end of the day, there are very small amounts that are eligible to go into what I might call people's wish list, including my own."
The governor said he has already signed authorization that will allow Rhode Islanders receiving unemployment compensation to get an additional $25 in their weekly checks starting Monday, noting that the move will add about $1million per week in economic activity in the state.
He said he is also signing off on a provision that will authorize employers to reduce the income tax withholding from employees' paychecks.
During the ceremony he also put his signature on a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu to get money flowing to the state for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.