Capitol Comments

Governors Drive Innovations in the South

Southern governors are in a hotbed of innovation in the midst of tough budget times—according to a special roundtable discussion held at the Southern Governors’ Association conference.

“Challenging times give you more opportunity to make substantive change,” Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine saidat the session Sunday, Aug. 10.

The first area ripe for innovation is diabetes treatment and prevention, according to a representative from Novo Nordisk, a Denmark-based health care company that specializes in diabetes therapies.

According to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 24 million people have diabetes nationwide—double the number of people with the disease in the early 1990s.

Southern Governors Discuss Energy, the 100 Pound Gorilla

By Mikel Chaversmchavers@csg.org

In 2005, when Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine was running for office, energy just wasn't on the minds of voters. When Kaine took office in January 2006, the state didn't even have an energy plan, Kaine said Monday at the Southern Governors' Association meeting in West Virginia.

In the more than two years since, Kaine's state--like so many states now--has come up with an energy plan and looked at renewable fuels.

Energy and how the nation provides energy to homes and businesses has gone from a backburner issue to a major issue, Kaine said.

U.S. Secretary of Labor: Governors Need to do More to Prepare States' Work Force

By Mikel Chavers

The states' work force is moving to a knowledge-based economy no longer competing with the state next door, but with regions all over the world. And governors need to focus on training the changing work force—which could be facing a shortage.

That’s according to the discussion from a special policy session Aug. 9 as a part of the Southern Governors’ Association conference at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao helped reiterate that point—because competing in a global economy is her top priority, she said.

“Our economy is increasingly focused on higher-end skills jobs,” Chao said Saturday. The governors will have to address skill levels of workers in the certain areas, according to Chao, including health care, where 3 million workers are needed in the next 10 years.

Leadership Lessons from the Iditarod

By Mary Branham Dusenberry

Martin Buser brought a special lesson on leadership learned from participating in the Iditarod to Western state officials attending the CSG-WEST meeting in Anchorage Thursday morning: Every member of the team counts.

“Often I get asked, ‘who are your best dogs?’ Or ‘what’s your leader’s name,” Buser, a four-time Iditarod champion, said. “I say it really doesn’t matter. I don’t go as fast as my fastest dog. I simply go as fast as my slowest dog.”

Often, he said, a team can go faster if it drops the weakest members. But if you keep doing that, you eventually lose all the team members.

“One person is not going to win the race,” he said. “So from a leader’s perspective, it’s actually way more important for me to focus on what I call the bottom of the totem pole. The relative weakest member of the team determines the pace of the operation.”

State Solutions Focus of National Meeting in Bismarck

Solutions for finding better cooperation among the three branches of government will be the focus of a panel discussion Tuesday during The Council of State Governments’ Interbranch Summit of the States in Bismarck, N.D.

Speakers during the session will be Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes, Appeals Court Judge Robert Hunter of North Carolina and State Rep. Kim Koppelman of North Dakota. Koppelman is CSG national chair and is hosting the Summit, which ends Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a panel discussion about the journey of a statute through the three branches of government. Speakers for that session will be Colorado Appeals Court Judge Russell Carparelli and State Sen. Bart Davis of Idaho.

Check back later to learn more about the Interbranch Summit of the States.

National Meeting in Bismarck Opens Monday

BISMARCK, N.D. — A panel discussion featuring the chief justice, lieutenant governor and house speaker of Alabama is one of the sessions Monday on the opening day of The Council of State Governments’ Interbranch Summit of the States.

More than 100 attendees will be in Bismarck as state officials from around the nation discuss ways to improve cooperation among the three branches of state government.

Other sessions at the Radisson Hotel Monday will offer panel discussions on the separation of powers, obstacles to interbranch cooperation, and economic development and the interbranch relationship.

Mary McQueen, president of the National Center for State Courts, will be the luncheon speaker.

State Rep. Kim Koppelman, CSG chair, hosts the event as part of his 2008 initiative to promote interbranch cooperation.

Check back later to learn more about the Interbranch Summit of the States.

Beschloss: Great Leaders Make the Tough Decisions

Shortly before he left office, George Washington sent John Jay to London to enter into a treaty to ensure the British would not invade the United States again.

“As a result, when Washington left office, a huge number of Americans had turned their back on him,” presidential historian Michael Beschloss told the crowd gathered for the keynote luncheon Saturday during The Council of State Governments’ 75th Anniversary Spring Conference.

Similarly, advisers told Abraham Lincoln he should forego issuing the Emancipation Proclamation if he hoped to be re-elected in 1864.

“He was tempted,” Beschloss said.

And Harry Truman had to decide in the spring of 1940 whether to recognize the new Jewish state of Israel. He did, over the objections of many, including his wife Bess, an anti-Semite, according to Beschloss.

Sabato Gazes into Political Crystal Ball for Conference

Larry J. Sabato gazed into his crystal ball Saturday at The Council of State Governments Spring Conference in Lexington, Ky., and not only tackled election reform and the primary system—but also managed to offer his predictions for the 2008 presidential election as well.

Sabato’s new book, “A More Perfect Constitution,” offers his solution to the current frontloaded primary system. He advocates writing a lottery-style primary system—where regions take turns going first—into the Constitution.

The way things are right now, he said, just isn’t working. “It’s too much—too much politics,” Sabato said. 

Plenary II: Larry Sabato Discusses State Election Reform

Plenary II—State Election Overview and Reform
Saturday, May 31
10-11:30 a.m.
Embassy Suites, Coldstream Ballroom, 1st Floor

Front-loading—It’s the rush to the voting booths as the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary take their place at the head of the line. It’s the expectation that one presidential candidate will be left standing by the time last-to-vote states such as Kentucky, Montana and South Dakota get their turn at the polls.

But critics argue that the front-loading frenzy primary system just doesn’t work. They argue that every vote should count and some experts say the current primary system just isn’t conducive to that.

Lessons Learned from Presidential Leadership

Keynote Luncheon
Saturday, May 31
Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Griffin Gate Marriott, Grand Ballroom, 1st Floor

State government officials can learn a lot from presidential leadership.

That’s the message presidential historian Michael Beschloss intends to impart today during a luncheon keynote address.

“What I’m particularly interested in is leaders who take risks to do the right thing,” he said.

Beschloss, a prolific author of historical nonfiction, knows something about such leaders. He’s written books on several presidents, including Lincoln, Eisenhower, Franklin Roosevelt and Kennedy. He’s studied presidents who jeopardized their popularity or careers to do the right thing, such as ending slavery, winning a world war or bringing civil rights to America. His new book is “Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America.”