Get it straight - Strickland massively increased state government

From The Daily Briefing:

Strickland has said the $5 billion in stimulus money the state used in the budget helped prevent deep cuts in funding for education, Medicaid and other services.

That's an interesting way to phrase how the stimulus dollars were used, especially when you consider over the next two years overall state spending is expanding by nearly 8%.

If the dollars simply prevented deep cuts, then why did Strickland have to expand state government at such a high rate?