We’re not sure how many months of the year the residents of chilly Bozeman, Mont., are able to play tennis outdoors. Nevertheless, nearly $50,000 of the $787 billion “stimulus” will be spent to build them some tennis courts in a city park.
That disgusts even the Democrat governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer.
Gov. Schweitzer, a no-nonsense farmer who has been praised for helping keep Montana running in the black, said Bozeman was free to use its own money to build tennis courts and did not require help from taxpayers across the nation.
“This sends the wrong signal to everybody,” he said, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
Sadly, Gov. Schweitzer’s protest fell on deaf ears. Bozeman also has proudly announced plans to use federal money to build a “climbing rock” — though mountain peaks of more than 10,000 feet are nearby.
Ironically, a city official defended the spending by complaining that without the stimulus, city residents would be forced to pay for such projects. But that’s the whole point: Since they will be the main beneficiaries of those projects, why shouldn’t they pay for them? Why should taxpayers in Sale Creek or in Ann Arbor, Mich., have to foot the bill?