Boost or burden?

COLUMBIA -- Comptroller Richard Eckstrom said South Carolina state government has now received $1 billion in stimulus money, and that most of it has benefitted people "who tend not to be taxpayers."

Along with other Republican critics of the Obama administration's stimulus plan, Eckstrom said South Carolina residents would be better off if the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act had never been passed.

Covering the politics of the Lowcountry, South Carolina and the nation.

He said it increased the nation's debt but has not brought the unemployment rate down.

With the amount of stimulus money spent and the state unemployment rate rising at the same time, the highly partisan divide over the merits of the stimulus program has become a chasm.

While the phrase "shovel-ready jobs" has gone hand in hand with the stimulus program, most of money sent to state governments in 2009 was spent, as intended, on Medicaid, unemployment compensation, and food stamps.

"Those might be worthwhile spending initiatives, but if we don't have the money, then we shouldn't spend it," Eckstrom said. "The money was spread among a narrow group of people, who tend not to be taxpayers."

His comments were sharply criticized by state Democrats.

"Wow. That's sad that he feels like that," said Keiana Page, communications director for the state Democratic Party. "Collecting unemployment means that you did have a job, and many people are receiving food stamps and Medicaid because they are unemployed.

"I'm sure they appreciate the efforts our government has been making," she said.

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., also criticized the stimulus plan, in a column Wednesday published by The State newspaper, writing that "some in Washington are jeopardizing America's future" by increasing the national debt.

"This might be funny, if it weren't the taxpayers' money," he wrote, referring to inconsistencies in reports on stimulus-created jobs.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler shot back that Wilson's argument was "loud and wrong, as usual."

"His unemployment questions should be directed to Governor Sanford who blew off meetings with potential employers to pursue an extramarital affair," she said.

State Senate leader Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said he thinks the federal government would be better off without the debt from the stimulus plan, but the state would have felt the loss of that money.

"That money got out into the economy, and things would have just been worse in this state, or there would have been services that would have been slighted," he said.

"We had no choice," McConnell said. "You don't get mad enough not to take it."

Politics aside, the stimulus debate is an economic one. Each side can argue the merits of increasing the long-term national debt in order to pump money into the economy during a dire recession when both state governments and consumers have slashed their spending.

Much of the stimulus money has gone not to "shovel-ready" jobs, but to fund programs for the unemployed, shore up ailing state budgets, pay for tax cuts for working families and retirees, tax credits for first-time home buyers, and so on.

Job creation is expected to be more apparent this year as more construction projects, such as the completion of the Berlin G. Myers Parkway in Summerville, get under way.

In South Carolina about $300 million of the $1 billion cited by Eckstrom was designated for patching holes in the state budget. That money helped avoid more layoffs of teachers and state troopers and additional cuts to social services.

In addition to the money flowing through state government, billions more have come to South Carolina for specific programs and projects, ranging from the hiring of new police officers in North Charleston to a $1.6 billion cleanup of the Savannah River Site.

In Allendale County, with the state's highest unemployment rate, more than 1,000 people showed up for a June job fair for the Savannah River jobs.

However, there's still a long way to go to get anywhere close to the White House's February estimate that 53,700 jobs would be created or saved in South Carolina over two years because of the stimulus package.

The federal government's official stimulus-tracking site says 8,147 jobs had been created or saved in the Palmetto State, as of Oct. 30.

"I think we would be worse off without it," Page said. "I hate that people like Rick Eckstrom and Joe Wilson are spreading the perception that the stimulus was supposed to be a magic wand that would cure all of our problems."

Eckstrom said the perception that the stimulus plan would reduce unemployment came from those who created it.

"The billion-dollar mark was a startling threshold to cross in South Carolina, yet we have continued to see our unemployment rate go up," he said. "I am disappointed."

Yvonne Wenger contributed to this report. Reach David Slade at dslade@postandcourier.com or 937-5552.