Governor McDonnell: Stimulus Works!

I usually try not to post twice in one day, but I couldn’t resist this (emphasis mine):

Governor Bob McDonnell today announced that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will advertise an estimated $1.1 billion in construction and maintenance projects during the first six months of Fiscal Year 2011. The estimated economic impact of this work is 33,900 jobs created or supported, as well as $2.83 billion in economic activity and $282.5 million in taxes that come back to the Commonwealth.

Is Governor McDonnell saying what I think he’s saying here?  Is he actually saying that government spending – and specifically the type of government spending that was part of the stimulus package (though I don’t know how much, if any, of this money was part of the stimulus) – is actually…helpful in creating jobs and spurring economic growth?  Isn’t that a major faux pas for a Republican? I thought it was standard GOP dogma that government spending couldn’t, by definition, help spur economic growth.

Oops!