PHILADELPHIA — The nation's governors came to tell tales of financial woe, but President-elect Barack Obama was already sold on them playing a role in the national economic recovery plan.
After convening almost a complete set of state chief executives Tuesday, Obama pledged "action, and action now" to address the budget shortfalls expected in no less than 41 states in the coming year.
"As president, I will not simply ask our nation's governors to help implement our economic recovery plan," Obama told an assembly of 48 governors gathered in historic Congress Hall. "I will ask you to help design that plan. Because, if we're listening to our governors, we'll not only be doing what's right for our states, we'll be doing what's right for our country."
The pledge is easier said than done. Twenty states have together cut $7.6 billion from their fiscal 2009 budgets, the National Governors Assn. reports. Thirty states say they are expecting additional shortfalls totaling more than $30 billion.
After tenuous relationships with the Bush administration, several governors -- most of them Democrats -- said they were hopeful the incoming president would take their counsel as he crafts his economic recovery plan.
They, in turn, promised to help Obama promote his proposal to the American people.
"This is an unprecedented opportunity you're affording the nation's governors to have input on something that we believe is crucial to beginning the process of turning this country's economy around," Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell told Obama, a fellow Democrat.
The meeting, which included governors of the U.S. territories, came as Obama continued to send warm signals to state and local officials. In introducing Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday as his choice to head the Department of Homeland Security, Obama said she knows "firsthand the need to have a partner in Washington that works well with state and local governments."
Obama is expected today to name another governor, New Mexico's Bill Richardson, to serve as Commerce secretary.
Obama had requested the meeting with the governors, which Rendell arranged and sited in the historic hall where Congress used to meet before Washington was the nation's capital.
In a private meeting with Obama, there was general agreement among Democratic and Republican governors about the need for investments in infrastructure, said sources who were present.
