While Dino Rossi and his fellow Republicans travel the state bemoaning our hostile business climate and out-of-control government, Gov. Christine Gregoire’s administration keeps racking up top grades from impartial national observers. First Forbes Magazine (hardly a bastion of liberal propaganda) lauds Washington as “the big story” of its annual Top States for Business survey, documenting our rise from 12th to 5th place under Gov. Gregoire’s leadership, and now the Pew Center on the States grades Washington an A- for performance in its 2008 State Management Report Card… the top score awarded this year, shared by only Virginia and Utah. (Hat tip Andrew.)
How are those campaign themes working out for you, Dino?
Washington receives an A- or higher in three of four categories; only in Infrastructure does our state drop to a B+, and that less than stellar mark is largely due to a decades long deficit in public investment that the Gregoire administration is only beginning to turn around. And like the Forbes survey, the Pew report not only shows top performance, but progress under the current administration, with Washington improving from a B+ the last time the survey was conducted back in 2005:
Washington has been a consistent leader in results-based governance. It was ahead of nearly all other states in controlling spending by keeping track of where investments were and were not paying off. Under Governor Christine Gregoire, Washington’s government has, if anything, moved further ahead on this front.
Of course, Rossi’s dire warnings of administrative mismanagement and looming crisis are just the usual political bluster; after three years of ducking questions on nearly every contentious issue that has confronted our state, Rossi has little option but to attack Gov. Gregoire’s leadership. But as empty and misleading as the Republicans’ anti-Gregoire rhetoric has been, we can’t assume it won’t ultimately resonate with voters, for I’m guessing the governor’s top grades likely come as a surprise even to some of her most ardent supporters.
No doubt a lot of the blame for this public perception gap falls on the governor herself, for as good an administrator and negotiator as she’s proven to be, she’s not always been the best communicator. (Recent communications staff changes look awfully promising, but Gov. Gregoire could still learn some lessons in self-promotion from Attorney General Rob McKenna.) Whenever I have the opportunity to speak to top Democratic elected and party officials I always tell them that if the public doesn’t understand their accomplishments — if voters don’t appreciate the value they’re getting for their tax dollars — it’s because these officials are doing a crappy job of telling their story. 99 percent of political life is exceedingly dull, and the bureaucratic process is duller still, so crafting a narrative that reaches beyond the occasional crisis or partisan food fight yet still manages to shape the public debate, requires both creativity and relentlessness on the part of public officials and their staff.
Yet I couldn’t touch on this topic without also blaming our local press, for it is, in the end, their job to inform and educate the public on what is really happening in Olympia and the impact it has on families throughout the state, an assignment they routinely fail when it comes to reporting on our government’s successes. Oh, I’m not blaming the rank and file political reporters; I think they generally do a pretty good job with what limited resources they have… and it’s not their fault that “State Government Program Operates Smoothly” doesn’t exactly make for a compelling headline. Their job is to tell a story too, and crisis, corruption and mismanagement, when it occurs, makes for a helluva a better read than a tedious tale of government doing what, in fact, it is supposed to do.
No, I blame the editorial boards, for not only failing to place our government’s flaws in their proper context, but for occasionally, maliciously doing the exact opposite. Of course the op/ed pages are the place for publishers and editors to express their opinions, but the gatekeepers of the Fourth Estate have public obligations that should run deeper than those of a mere blogger. As purveyors of a journalistic paradigm that aspires toward impartiality and objectivity, editorial writers and columnists have a unique responsibility to reassert a sense of proportion unavoidably lost in the daily rush of headlines. I don’t expect newspapers to attempt to balance the bad news with good news — that would be pointless and boring — but if they are to strenuously avoid editorializing within their news reporting, then they have an obligation to balance the news on their editorial pages by providing a little context. At least, they should have this obligation if they expect to be taken seriously.
Take for example Kate Riley’s column today in the Seattle Times, “When it comes to open government, a sledgehammer is sorely needed“, a dire headline if there ever was one. According to Riley our public disclosure laws have “utterly eroded,” and much of the blame falls on Gov. Gregoire who has allegedly “slapped open-government advocates in the face.” Uh-huh. And what does the Pew report say on this subject in comparing Washington to the 49 other states?
Bottom line: No state in the nation is better at developing and sharing information than Washington.
I don’t disagree with Riley that the Legislature needs to act to address the potentially frivolous use of attorney-client privilege as an end-run around our public disclosure laws (though her column might have been more useful had it come before this session’s legislative cut-offs,) but the tone and tenor of her piece suggest a system that has fallen into complete disrepair at the hands of a secretive governor. It is, through its utter lack of context, a mean spirited and misleading column, perhaps appropriate to the pages of a partisan blog, but unworthy of the weight of credibility assumed the pages of our state’s largest newspaper. The Times will run few articles trumpeting the everyday successes of our public disclosure laws, and understandably so. But the least they can do when criticizing our government’s failures on their op/ed page is to present those failures within the proper context of its established record of success.
That the majority of Washingtonians don’t understand how well managed our state government is compared to other states is a failure of our local press. But grading on a national curve, I guess I have to bump their report card up to a C.
Goldy: Non-partisan ratings of efficiency and performance in government won’t matter to our trolls – what matters is that Dino Rossi is good for the BIAW lobbyists who want to dismantle all regulation in the state in the name of “free enterprise”.
I can see the headline now – Liberals cause downturn in state economy – despite data that indicates state is doing well.
I’d like to know how Dino Lossi thinks he can do better by slashing programs and eliminating services in order to give tax breaks to the least needy segment of our population.
It’s kind of like a kid who bangs on garbage can lines criticizing the Beatles for “lackluster performance” and saying he can do a better job than Ringo Starr.
At some point, people are entitled to ask for work samples and insist that “seeing is believing” ….
garbage can lids
@1 The trolls are already blaming our Democratic senators and congressmen for “losing” the Boeing tanker deal — as if (a) Congress instead of the GOP-controlled Pentagon awards defense contracts, and (b) Boeing’s performance had nothing to do with it.
” … newspapers … have an obligation to balance the news on their editorial pages by providing a little context.”
Look for our local asswipes (dead-tree media + trolls) to equate “tree huggers” (i.e., people who support responsible land use and resource extraction practices) with “terrorists” because some other asswipes torched half a dozen McMansions.
An arson fire always makes catchier headlines than a functioning, user-friendly, informatiive official state web site.
Now we wait for the right wingers to decide how they can lie and spin this good news into bad for those who can’t seem to add 2+2. Sucks to be them.
RR-One the other side of the coin, seems alot of people were blaming Reichert for the tanker deal loss in past threads. So here we are everyone blaming everyone. Unfortunately the fact is Boeing was beaten out by a “design” EADS has in place, although EADS hasn’t even built one yet whereas Boeing has had the current build desin being built for years.
Great post!
Exactly what accomplishments Goldy? Broken Alaska Way Viaduct, 520 sinking into the lake, 405 needing lane expansion but getting nowhere. Housing prices through the roof, making this area unaffordable to middle class folks. What’s good about this?
@10 Freedom Lover, and all others who plan on asking “what accomplisments?”
READ THE ARTICLE GOLDY PUT UP.
10-I think what this study is pointing out is our state government is handling finances in a much different manner than this state has for years. Although, yes, we are not seeing much for our tax dollars in the way of major road improvements. We have known since ’01 the viaduct is a liablity, the ferry system has been in shambles for years and the money set aside in ’03 (285 mill) to build 3 new ferries, the first of which was to be in service by this year, has been spent elsewhere as that money is no longer available. The 520 bridge doesn’t even have a design yet. Yet our taxes keep going up…I do understand your frustration. But again, I think this report just shows how the government here is in the know as to which investments and such are in place.
Here is where you can see the actual grades and look at all the other states:
http://www.pewcenteronthestate....._card.aspx
@8: Hannah
After Boeing tried to bribe their way into the tanker contract – no amount of lobbying and congressional help could have stopped this. Boeing is to blame for their corrupt business practices – they took what was a no-brainer and turned it into a business loss with their lack of decency and ethics. Boeing deserved to lose this contract by not playing by the rules.
There have been proposals for 520 but the nimbys in Montlake, at the UW, and at Hunt’s Point keep nixing them. I remember the days when the state or the city just declared ’eminent domain’ and told people how it was gonna be. But those were usually working class people, not the wealthy.
Freedom lover: so you are willing to pay higher taxes to fix things? and you voted for the rails and roads?
Otherwise – keep your trap shut.
Ah – it’s the Governor’s fault that the viaduct is broken – if this is true, the GOP looooooses big because, if she has the power to cause earthquakes, no two-bit, lying sack of shit real estate salesman can beat her.
Again – 520 sinking – was our Governor involved in designing or building 520? Nope.
As for 405 – the right wingers have fought tooth and nail to stop transportation initiatives that would solve this problem. Look at the republican party for this one.
Housing prices – this is my favorite – look at the AWOL asshole George Bush and ask him about this. It’s his fault.
And again – the article rates Washington near the top despite these canards. We’ve seen the first attempt to spin from an inbred winger – who’s next?
Someimtes I just read shit in here and ask myself, “What the fuck?”
For example:
“…we are not seeing much for our tax dollars in the way of major road improvements.”
Then again, one could drive down I-405 and see that it is being widened from Bellevue to Renton.
Or, one could got to http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/ and look at all the information that is up there, including: the list of completed projects
520 bridge plans (begin construction 2013, open to traffic 2018, compete in 2020)
What the 2003 “Nickel” Funding Package bought us (including EIS and planning for the 520 bridge and $2.6 billion in congestion relief)
What the Transportation Partnership Program buys us (including the state’s portion of AWV, safety investment, and $2.95 billion for 69 congestion relief projects)
“We have known since ‘01 the viaduct is a liablity”
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Funding/2005/
“…the ferry system has been in shambles for years and the money set aside in ‘03 (285 mill) to build 3 new ferries, the first of which was to be in service by this year, has been spent elsewhere as that money is no longer available.
According to WSDOT (link http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Funding/Nickel/) the $298 billio appropriated in the 2003 legislation was for 5 projects, including and I quote, “Provide for one new auto/passenger ferry boat, Improve ferry terminals in Mukilteo, Anacortes, and Edmonds.” So where you got 3 ferries from I don’t know. The single new ferry was brought intooperation but required repairs after is first run. So the money is “no longer avaialble?” No, it was spent and the stuff has beeen rolled out.
“The 520 bridge doesn’t even have a design yet.”
Uh, wrong. (link http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projec.....tPlans.htm ) “We are addressing the need to ease bridge traffic congestion by moving forward with Governor Gregoire’s decision to build a 6 lane facility in a 4 + 2 configuration. The new SR 520 will have 4 general purpose lanes and 2 high occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV).”
More: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdo.....AWV520.pdf
You can thank me later.
Hey, how come we can’t put bulleted (unordered) lists in here? They show up in preview.
1927: The Four Steel Electric Ferries begin service.
1987: The Steel Electric Ferries reach the end of their expected 60-year life span.
2001: State Legislature authorizes replacement of the ferries, but provides no funding.
2004: State Legislature allocates $280 million for four 130-car ferries.
November, 2004: Report by the Washington State Department of Transportation concludes the Steel Electric Ferries should be replaced. (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdo.....uation.pdf)
July, 2005: Gov. Gregoire and the Washington State Ferries shelve plans for replacing the 1927 Steel Electric ferries, opting instead for 144-car ferries that would leave the Steel Electric Ferries in service.
2007: State Legislature increases funding for four new ferries to $351 million.
November, 2007: Steel Electric Ferries are declared unsafe and taken out of service. (Seattle Times)
January, 2008: Governor Gregoire asks the legislature for $100 million to build three additional ferries to replace the Steel Electrics.
The $100 million to build three new ferries?
So that will be six new ferries for only $36 mllion more than it was going to take to build three.
DL-They have “plan ideas” but no choice has been made yet…just ideas still.
405-more lanes yes our tax dollars are being spent on 405.
And no one is blaming our government for the design of the 520 nor earthquakes, I am pointing out that there is a lot of waste her, as in all other states, monorail is the perfect example of waste. And of course the Port of Seattle, which has raised arms on both side of the fence.
And regarding our ferries, may be my mistake in remembering the original bill stating 3 new ferries…and I don’t know of the one new ferry in service, which one is it?
I also am tired of the round of politician-bashing which went on Friday in the face of Boeing’s loss of the tanker competition.
The competition was supposed to be non-partison and neutral, so the Air Force could judge all entries based upon their merits. Personally, I think that one of the merit qualifications should be based upon what percentage of the aircraft is built in the U.S. vs on foreign soil, especially with regard to final assembly. But that is only one factor.
Perhaps I am also guilty of bashing the politicians, as I was quick to point out that the districts in Alabama which will benefit from the EADS/Northrup contract are strong Republican districts, and I am skeptical that there wasn’t some political pressure from the White House which influenced the decision.
But to make it clear – political considerations shouldn’t have been a factor in this contract, regardless of whether Airbus or Boeing ends up being the loser. If Washington state politicians had any influence on the selection, it would have been improper, as would any influence by Alabama politicians.
RHP- AMEN! It’s a business decision based of the best product gets the deal. No politics involved, and if they were, shame on them.
@8: “Although, yes, we are not seeing much for our tax dollars in the way of major road improvements.”
Oh, really? How many dollars? What would you reasonably expect to see for those dollars? Are the dollars allocated (i.e., tax dollars) not enough? Too much? Spent unwisely? You do not say. Thus your assertion is bathed in inchorence.
People in this state resolutely continue to believe that the good fairy will sprinkle them with public works for little, if any, additional cost. They whine about their taxes, yet insist that we expand the suburbs to infinity without realizing the gigantic waste (and public cost) said lifestyle entails. They firmly believe that rich people should get all the benefits and a lighter tax burden to boot in the vain hope that a few crumbs will fall their way.
The fact that anything can get done in the face of these attitudes is a tribute to those who actually get in the trenches and try to make it work at all.
@4: What else would you expect from a company that moved to Chicago?
25-Waste as in monorail (billions wasted after voters in Seattle kept saying no) money that could have been used for the viaduct. 100 mill wasted at the Port by poor bookkeeping and decisions. Now I have disagreed for years of our state giving tax breaks to large corporations, who in turn use the infrastructure more than the lil man. It takes both sides to waste money and spend money, I love the report Goldy has posted, it’s nice to know via a NON PARTISAN that our state is above the grade in most areas than other states.
@27: “Billions” were not wasted on the monorail. Forbes magazine is hardly “non-partisan”. The waste at the POS does need to be addressed, but you should also consider the lunacy imposed at the airport by the TSA (I’ve done construction projects at the terminal…it’s ludicrous).
As for the rest of your post…well said.
28-LOL Don’t even get me started on the TSA fiasco, so true…I have quite a few friends who also have been on the construction projects there at the terminal, they tell me the same lunacy stories. :)
Hannah,
“I think what this study is pointing out is our state government is handling finances in a much different manner than this state has for years.”
Ummm…nope. The 2005 Government Performance Project report also ranked Washington state among the top three. Together, the reports suggest that Washington state continues to outperform almost every other state in handling finances.
Hannah @ 12
“Although, yes, we are not seeing much for our tax dollars in the way of major road improvements.”
In fact, the report suggests that Washington state is well above average in public infrastructure. WA earned a B+ for infrastructure. There were only four states with better grades (UT, FL, KY, MI) and there were seven other states that got a B+. Thus, there were 38 states that received poorer grades than WA. The average grade for all states was a B-
Hannah @ 22
“I am pointing out that there is a lot of waste her, as in all other states, monorail is the perfect example of waste.”
Ummm…the Monorail project was NOT a state project. It wasn’t really a governmental project, either. It was mandated by initiative 41 in fall of 1997. Rather than being developed by a governmental transportation planning agency, the Monorail project was developed by a cab driver (Dick Falkenbury) and a poet (Grant Coswell). Odd that it never worked out, huh?
@ 27
“Waste as in monorail (billions wasted after voters in Seattle kept saying no)”
Wrong…the voters kept saying YES, as in, voting in favor of the “project” through 3 ballot measures. In fact, Seattle officials tried to put the project out of its misery by repealing Initiative 41 in June 2000 (as they are entitled to do under law).
Citizens then hit back by submitting Initiative 53 in fall of 2000 that provided planning funding and encumbering some Seattle borrowing capacity for the project.
Voters again went to the ballot to vote on the Green line plan in fall 2002, and it passed.
It was only in fall of 2005 that voters, faced with the reality of the costs for constructing, operating and maintaining the “starter line” voted to can the project. The Mayor and Seattle City Council were against moving forward with the project.
Thus, the millions of dollars wasted is more a testament to how things can go awry when amateurs are allowed to plan public transportation and then get their plans authorized via an initiative.
“money that could have been used for the viaduct.”
Not really. The viaduct is largely a STATE project. The Monorail was a CITY-level project (but one developed outside the elected city government).
Hannah @ 27
“it’s nice to know via a NON PARTISAN that our state is above the grade in most areas than other states.”
The PEW report ranks Washington State well above average in ALL FOUR of the areas they examined. We are ranked right at the top in “Money,” “People,” and “Information” and we are tied for 5th rank for “Infrastructure.”
Brian Sonntag …
A lot of what the report and Goldy’s praise both center on seems to em to be the theme of Brain Sonntag’s campaigns. How come there is not more talk of this man?
I don’t understand what some of the folks in Boeing management have been thinking.
I used to work for a Fortune 500 company that did a lot of business with the military. Their corporate headquarters in Alabama was the most unglamorous place I’d ever seen–a collection of single-story prefab buildings all painted a dreary shade of yellow. The offices and labs inside were comfortable but anything but lavish.
Someone in management there explained to me that the spartan appearance was deliberate. The underpaid government officials and military folks who came to the meetings and benchmarks would have been put off if they saw anything too plush and got the idea that the taxpayers were paying for it.
After, as someone put it, “McDonnell Douglas bought Boeing with Boeing’s money”, things got pretty weird. I don’t know what they must have been putting in Phil Condit’s coffee, but the headquarters move to Chicago made little sense, and decking out the executive offices like one of Saddam Hussein’s “presidential palaces” even less. Far more embarrassing was the behavior of Harry Stonecifer, who in addition to being a sexual predator was clearly out of touch with reality. It was likely him and the other McD folks who cooked up the idea of trying to game the system with the first tanker bid. Served them right to get called on it. The engineering professionals and rank-and-file workers at Boeing didn’t deserve it.
It probably also says a lot that Al Mullaly decided to go try and run a failing auto manufacturer rather than stay with Boeing and try to fix things.
Where’s the Kakakala, now that we need it?
@36: I hear it was secretly restored and now sits in a bottle on the mantle of the Boeing boardroom in Chicago.
@36
What help is a Greek olive?????
@10 Pray tell us how a whining loser will replace the AWV and 520, expand 405, and make housing more affordable by opposing gas taxes and throwing poor kids off Medicaid?
Kalakala, kalamata, po-tay-to, po-tah-to……..
But I’ll bet the wingnuts are just imploding over a conservative magazine praising Washington as a good place for businesses. Kinda renders everything they say moot……
I’d be please if they were just rendered.
Yeah, Gregoires fantastic money management. So how about
that 40 million she took personal responsibility for?
That pesky little deadline thing over and over again and
I want the money to be paid back to the taxpayers. Maybe they could take it out of the school lunch program or maybe
WEA retirement fund. If this state is 5th best I cant imagine how screwed up the other states are. Solution.
Govermnent needs to be reduced in size about 75%, and
it is going to happen one way or another cause the money is
running out.
@42
Govermnent needs to be reduced in size about 75%,
Why don’t you just take it out of the Defense Department. That would get you close to 75%.
40 Yeah, thats why Boeing left town.
Kudoes to Governor Gregoire for doing what the Democratic party does best: making a better environment for business.
Mark @ 42,
“If this state is 5th best I cant imagine how screwed up the other states are.”
It is tied at 5th best for infrastructure. It ranks third best overall.
Suck it, Wingnut.
44:
Uh, last I saw, they still build planes there. Moving the corporate offices to Chicago doesn’t constitue ‘moving out’. When Boeing moves all their business to India or China, then I’ll call it ‘moving out’. And the two members of my family that work for Easy B don’t think they’ve moved out, either.
DIIIIIS-missed!
RHP @ 23:
While I normally agree with you whole heartedly, on this one I’m going to have to sharply disagree with you.
#1) Vital defense contracts and those that are of this dollar magnitued need to remain in the United States. I’d much rather that the DoD establish operational criteria and have American companies bid the work to fit the needs and let them offer counter proposals that may enhance the offer. While I understand that not “all” parts are manufactured in the United States, the hunk of the contract should employ American workers.
#2) I’m particularly concerned about the unions getting shafted on this deal. It has a ripple effect that goes throughout the workforce, unionized or not, blue collar and white collar jobs. As corporations win the race to the basement on labor costs at the expense of unions, non-union workers will easily be crushed.
While I agree with you that “political pressure” shouldn’t be exerted in an award of a government contract, there should be upfront restrictions on who is invited to bid on certain contracts.