Yesterday we heard Governor of Alaska (and potential McCain VP pick) Sarah Palin tell us that she wanted her state to be less dependent on federal money. Today we hear from a group of governors, led by Arnold Schwarzenegger of Cal-ee-fornia, saying that they want more money for roads and bridges in their state.

They’re not sure where the money is going to come from, but they know they want it.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bipartisan group of governors called Sunday on President Bush, Congress and the presidential candidates to back a major spending program to repair the nation’s roads, bridges, rail lines and water systems.

The effort could come with a steep price tag: Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said the group will urge Congress to approve a new economic stimulus package that could include $25 billion to $30 billion for infrastructure projects.

It would appear as though “economic stimulus” is going to be the buzz word for all new government spending.

Now we here at the Oink Report have no problem with keeping roads and bridges in good repair. In fact, we think it is one of government’s most basic and necessary functions. One that all too often gets ignored in favor of millions spent on things like these decidedly non-infrastructure-related projects political leaders in Iowa were able to secure federal funding for:

—-$2 million to repair and replace river crossing bridges on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail

—-$3 million for a downtown Waterloo “river walk” trail loop on the Cedar, envisioned as part of the downtown Riverfront Renaissance project.

—-Nearly $2 million for development of a children’s book illustration gallery at the Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with hiking trails and art galleries.  We Oinkers enjoy a good hike and a children’s book as much as the next person, but should these projects really be on the federal government’s priority list when we apparently need tens of millions of dollars of extra funding for infrastructure maintenance?

Perhaps if the federal government wasn’t so distracted with funding all these local pet projects there would be enough funding to properly maintain infrastructure.