Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2002

Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Stephen Slivinski, a former fiscal policy analyst at the Cato Institute, is director of tax and budget studies at the Goldwater Institute.

Against the backdrop of the worst state budget crunch in years, this report presents the findings of Cato Institute's sixth biennial fiscal policy report card on the nation's governors. The report card's grading is based on 17 objective measures of each governor's fiscal performance. Governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades. Those who have increased spending and taxes the most receive the lowest grades.

This year, two governors receive the highest grade of A: Bill Owens of Colorado and Jeb Bush of Florida. Four governors receive the lowest grade of F: Gray Davis of California, Don Sundquist of Tennessee, Bob Taft of Ohio, and John Kitzhaber of Oregon.

The governors of some of America's most populous states and their grades are George Pataki of New York, B; George Ryan of Illinois, D; and John Engler of Michigan, B.

State governments faced a combined budget gap of more than $40 billion in 2002, largely as a result of an overspending binge in the 1990s. Most governors will confront more tough budget choices in 2003. We hope that governors do not make the mistake of raising taxes to try to balance budgets, as many did in the economic slowdown of the early 1990s. Instead, by reducing spending and cutting tax rates, governors can return their states to fiscal and economic health. If they do, we will have many high grades to reward on the next Cato fiscal report card.

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From the report:

The Disappearance of Centrist Democrats

Another troubling development is the dis-appearance
of centrist Democrats from gover-nors’
offices. Ben Cayetano of Hawaii used to
sound like a supply sider when talking about
income tax cuts, but then he raised taxes in
2002. Gary Locke of Washington has a good fis-cal
record, but only because he has been pushed
to protect taxpayers by a conservative legisla-ture
and voter initiatives that restrict state
spending. For the most part, recent Democratic
governors have tended to be pro-tax and pro-spending
with little regard for the negative
effects on the economy.
The most high-profile example of that
trend is California’s Gray Davis. Davis entered
office as a rising star in the Democratic Party
with an image as a fiscal moderate. However,
in four years he has grown the state budget by
nearly 40 percent and turned a $10 billion
budget surplus into a $24 billion deficit. Davis
has abandoned any pretense of fiscal conser-vatism
and has had as economically destruc-tive
a first term as any governor.
more than 50 percent during the decade:

Name Party State Score Grade

Owens (R) Colorado 76 A
Bush (R) Florida 67 A

Barnes (D) Georgia 64 B
Pataki (R) New York 63 B
Guinn (R) Nevada 63 B
Janklow (R) South Dakota 60 B
Johnson (R) New Mexico 60 B
Locke (D) Washington 60 B
Engler (R) Michigan 58 B
Martz (R) Montana 58 B
Keating (R) Oklahoma 58 B
Rowland (R) Connecticut 58 B
Swift (R) Massachusetts 56 B

Minner (D) Delaware 54 C
Patton (D) Kentucky 53 C
Musgrove (D) Mississippi 53 C
Kempthorne (R) Idaho 53 C
Cayetano (D) Hawaii 52 C
O'Bannon (D) Indiana 52 C
Huckabee (R) Arkansas 52 C
Geringer (R) Wyoming 52 C
Johanns (R) Nebraska 52 C

Almond (R) Rhode Island 50 D
Hodges (D) South Carolina 50 D
Hull (R) Arizona 49 D
Ryan (R) Illinois 49 D
Leavitt (R) Utah 48 D
Graves (R) Kansas 48 D
Shaheen (D) New Hampshire 48 D
Ventura (I) Minnesota 48 D
Siegelman (D) Alabama 48 D
King (I) Maine 47 D
Vilsack (D) Iowa 46 D
Glendening (D) Maryland 46 D
Dean (D) Vermont 46 D
Hoeven (R) North Dakota 45 D
Foster (R) Louisiana 44 D
Wise (D) West Virginia 44 D

Davis (D) California 42 F
Sundquist (R) Tennessee 40 F
Taft (R) Ohio 40 F
Kitzhaber (D) Oregon 30 F

Appendix C: Detailed Tables
Table C-1
Spending Variables
Average Annual Average Annual Average Annual
Average Annual Change in Direct Recommended Change in General
Change in Real General Spending Change in Real Fund Spending
per Capita Direct per $1,000 per Capita General per $1,000
Spending General Spending Personal Income Fund Spending Personal Income
Governor State Score Grade through 2000 through 2000 through 2003 2000–2003
Guinn (R) Nevada 75 A -10.0% -8.7% -2.5% 0.9%
Owens (R) Colorado 72 A -2.5% -0.4% -3.6% -6.0%
Barnes (D) Georgia 70 A -2.2% 0.2% -6.4% -2.1%
Engler (R) Michigan 62 B 2.1% 0.0% -2.2% -5.8%
Shaheen (D) New Hampshire 62 B 0.3% 3.5% 0.4% -9.6%
Bush (R) Florida 59 B -1.6% 4.4% -4.5% -1.0%
Pataki (R) New York 56 B -0.7% -1.8% -2.0% 0.9%
Dean (D) Vermont 56 B 2.7% 0.5% -0.7% -4.7%
Martz (R) Montana 56 B -2.7% -0.6%
Janklow (R) South Dakota 54 B 1.3% -0.5% -1.7% -0.4%
Graves (R) Kansas 54 B 1.9% 0.7% -0.4% -3.0%
Musgrove (D) Mississippi 54 B -0.9% -2.1%
Ryan (R) Illinois 53 B -0.5% 2.0% -0.9% -0.7%
Locke (D) Washington 53 B 1.6% -1.7% -1.3% 0.6%
Foster (R) Louisiana 51 C 2.7% -0.1% -0.7% -1.0%
Keating (R) Oklahoma 51 C -1.3% -0.9% 0.1% 1.6%
Johnson (R) New Mexico 50 C 3.1% 2.8% -2.9% 0.5%
Huckabee (R) Arkansas 49 C 2.2% 1.9% 1.0% -2.9%
O'Bannon (D) Indiana 48 C 4.2% 2.6% 0.9% -4.1%
Rowland (R) Connecticut 48 C 1.2% -0.4% 1.5% -0.6%
Patton (D) Kentucky 48 C 5.2% 3.8% -2.2% -1.2%
Johanns (R) Nebraska 45 C 6.9% 7.4% -2.6% -2.6%
Vilsack (D) Iowa 45 C 3.9% 7.2% 0.0% -3.4%
Almond (R) Rhode Island 45 C 2.0% 1.1% -1.1% 3.4%
Minner (D) Delaware 44 C 0.5% -0.9%
King (I) Maine 44 C 2.9% 1.8% 0.9% 0.2%
Sundquist (R) Tennessee 43 D 0.0% -0.5% 2.3% 2.5%
Kempthorne (R) Idaho 42 D 0.4% 2.1% 0.7% 3.0%
Cayetano (D) Hawaii 42 D 0.7% 2.3% 0.9% 2.9%
Leavitt (R) Utah 39 D 5.0% 2.4% 0.4% 1.7%
Hodges (D) South Carolina 37 D 4.5% 6.5% -1.6% 3.4%
Siegelman (D) Alabama 37 D 3.2% 4.2% -1.1% -3.3%
Glendening (D) Maryland 35 D 5.0% 0.9% 2.4% 2.9%
Geringer (R) Wyoming 35 D 1.5% 0.1% 3.6% 4.5%
Taft (R) Ohio 32 D 4.6% 5.5% 2.0% 2.5%
Hoeven (R) North Dakota 32 D 2.7% 0.2%
Wise (D) West Virginia 31 D 2.7% 0.2%
Davis (D) California 29 F 5.0% 4.0% 4.4% 2.2%
Swift (R) Massachusetts 28 F -1.2% 6.2%
Hull (R) Arizona 27 F 10.8% 17.1% -2.2% -0.3%
Ventura (I) Minnesota 26 F 9.8% 11.8% 0.4% 0.7%
Kitzhaber (D) Oregon 24 F 9.1% 7.9% 5.7% -1.8%

Sorry about that, thought it might be more readable:

The line of interest!

Davis (D) California 29 F 5.0% 4.0% 4.4% 2.2%

Spending score is 29.

Grade is F

Average Annual increase in spending per capita thru 2000 is 5% and per $1000 per personal income is 4%.

Rate drops slightly for coming years!

See the table!

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Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors: 2002