Meek says more stimulus money needed (also ballparks his campaign finance report and reacts to Palin)
by Michael C. Bender | July 7th, 2009
U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, above left, said tonight that the country will probably need another round of stimulus money before long.
“There is more that needs to be done,” Meek said in an interview.
Meek, the frontrunner for the Democratic U.S Senate nomination, was responding to a story in the Palm Beach Post on Sunday that showed Florida is receiving fewer stimulus dollars per-person than any state in the country. Meek said he was planning to review the numbers when he returns to Washington.
“I’m going to pay very close attention to that,” Meek said. “It’s definitely worth looking at and seeing if there are future stimulus packages that Florida gets its fair share.”
Meek said the economy was not turning around as fast as Democrats had hoped. He said plenty of jobs had been saved with stimulus money, but not enough new jobs have been created.
“I’d much rather be up front with Floridians versus giving smoke and mirors that ‘Oh my goodness, the job situtaion will be better in another two or three months,” he said. “We’re hit hard here in Florida and we’re working with what we have to get people back to work as fast as we can and get this economy back on its feet.”
Meek was in Tallahassee as part of a long holiday weekend of campaigning in North Florida, which included stops in Sopchoppy, Chattahoochee, Quincy and Lynn Haven.
Meek was scheduled to hold his Tallahassee meet-and-greet at Lake Ella, but rain forced him to relocate to The Moon, a local theater where about 50 people showed up in the first hour.
Meek said he was expecting report about $1.2 million in campaign contributions for the second quarter of the year. He collected $1.5 million in the first three months of the year. Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, Meek’s likely opponent, is expected to bring in at least $3 million this quarter, his first round of fundraising for the race.
In other political news, Meek said he hadn’t paid too much attention to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s bombshell announcement that she was resigning her position in order to “effect positive change outside government.”
Meek said cell phone reception was a problem in North Florida and asked if there was any additional news to give her announcement more context. Told there was not, he shrugged.
“She’s probably doing it for reasons that will become clear in the future,” he said.
Tags: campaign finance, Charlie Crist, fund-raising, Kendrick Meek, meet-and-greet, Sarah Palin, stimulus
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July 7th, 2009 at 4:06 am
Do we have any politicians left that understand the words balanced budget? Where does Meeks think that the government will get the money for another stimulus? With record deficits under two administrations, and getting worse by the day, we should require all government officials to take basic economics classes!
July 7th, 2009 at 11:15 am
The Moon is a local theater now? More like a night club for students to go drink a lot at.
July 7th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
[...] later stepped away from the race and is now running for state attorney general. (Meek told us last night he’ll report about $1.2 million for the second [...]