GOP Governors Meet

Republican governors meeting at a Southern California coastal resort say they´re looking to the Bush

administration for federal help on homeland security spending. The three-day conference of the Republican Governors Association is uplifted by election successes earlier this month. But almost every state is facing fiscal shortages as the governors try to find funds for increased homeland safety measures.

Utah Governor Mike Leavitt said: “Homeland security is basically hometown security.” The Republican governors strongly urged faster and better federal support for law enforcement and public health needs. Top Bush administration officials assured them they will received cash and guidance on state programs. Federal Homeland

Security Director Tom Ridge met with the Republican governors and said: “I see what the governors are doing. I see what the mayors are doing. We are far safer than we were on September eleventh.”