National Governors Association

Former Gov. Pete Wilson struck a seemingly Republican-style blow for free enterprise last year when he opposed the National Governors Assn. by contending that states should not have the authority to tax commerce on the Internet. Now, Gov. Gray Davis has done the same thing. California's new Democratic governor last week voted against a resolution on state Internet taxes that was approved overwhelmingly by his colleagues at an annual meeting of the nation's governors in Washington, D.C.

The showdown in Wisconsin between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and state public employee unions has injected an ideological flash point into what is traditionally a non-partisan annual gathering of the nation's governors in Washington this weekend. For years, the National Governors Assn. meeting here has been an opportunity for states' chief executives from both parties to lock arms in the name of solving problems while castigating the blood sport of politics in the nation's capital.

States should develop creative approaches to climate change -- just as they have with challenges such as healthcare -- despite their different economic interests, said governors at a meeting in Traverse City. "No individual state is going to solve the climate-change problem, but we can do our part," Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said. "In the absence of national or international consensus or progress, we have the opportunity to show the way."

Former President Clinton kicked off the centennial gathering of the National Governors Assn. on Saturday with a challenge to the states to reassert themselves to help the country combat what he called the profound challenges of globalization and interdependency.

The National Governors' Assn. opened its annual meeting Saturday with a burst of presidential politics as Republican governors criticized Vice President Al Gore as a promoter of "the politics of false choice" and Democrats labeled Texas Gov. George W. Bush's record as "less than stellar." Neither Bush nor Gore, the apparent Republican and Democratic nominees for president, planned to attend the NGA meeting.

They stood side by side before a bank of cameras outside the White House, a handful of governors poised to talk about their morning meeting with President Bush. The first question went to the governor of California. So did the second. And the third. Sensing a trend, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger interrupted the barrage to observe that the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Utah and Kentucky were being ignored. "I would like to say also that other governors are here," he said.

The nation's governors, meeting in Washington, expressed bipartisan concern Saturday about cutbacks in benefits for legal immigrants under last year's welfare reform legislation, but Republicans immediately began backing away from efforts to push Congress hard to change the law. GOP governors participating in a four-day meeting of the National Governors' Assn. later passed a resolution opposing any major changes in the welfare reform law.

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala blamed Republican governors Sunday for failing to press for a bipartisan welfare proposal acceptable to President Clinton. Shalala said GOP governors, the majority of the National Governors' Assn., let the group's bipartisan proposal be swept away by Republican leaders in Congress. "They had a chance for a bipartisan effort, and they walked away from it," Shalala said.

A day after the nation's governors offered him a plan that might break the budget stalemate, President Clinton came under mounting pressure Wednesday from within his own party to keep his distance from their proposals to reshape the huge Medicaid and welfare programs. Democrats, who were initially guarded about the plan, were arguing that Clinton's signature on such a deal would hand Republicans a big victory, while undoing basic Democratic legislation.

Gov. Pete Wilson staked out the conservative quarter of the nation's debate over welfare and Medicaid reform last week in Washington, criticizing a bipartisan coalition of his fellow governors by saying their hallmark agreement does not go far enough. Only reluctantly, Wilson said, did he join his colleagues in last Tuesday's unanimous agreement at the National Governors Assn. winter meeting.

States should develop creative approaches to climate change -- just as they have with challenges such as healthcare -- despite their different economic interests, said governors at a meeting in Traverse City. "No individual state is going to solve the climate-change problem, but we can do our part," Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said. "In the absence of national or international consensus or progress, we have the opportunity to show the way."

Members of the National Governors Assn. meeting in Des Moines warned that states and consumers would bear much of the burden for a terrorism-driven push to turn driver's licenses into a national ID card. "It's a huge problem," said Democrat Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania. He said it would cost his state $100 million-plus to restructure motor vehicle offices to respond to a new federal law called the REAL ID Act. "It has become a national ID card.

President Bush often quips that the aura of the White House intimidates visitors, leaving would-be critics to express only niceties. But the presidential mansion -- and its current occupant -- apparently did not have that effect Monday on Montana's new governor, who made some sharp comments after Bush tried to promote his Social Security overhaul to a group of governors consumed by other matters.

Addressing the nation's governors, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates delivered a scathing critique of U.S. high schools Saturday, calling them obsolete and saying that elected officials should be ashamed of a system that leaves millions of students unprepared for college and for technical jobs. Gates was speaking as the invited guest of some of the nation's most powerful elected officials, at a National Governors Assn. meeting devoted to improving high school education across the country.

In a sign of the nervousness that some in President Bush's party feel about aspects of his second-term agenda, Republican governors arrived in the capital this weekend urging Bush to help soften the blow in their states of proposed cuts to social welfare programs. The GOP governors were divided on how to approach Bush's top domestic priority: diverting a portion of Social Security tax payments into privately owned retirement accounts. Some said they intended to steer clear of the issue.

They stood side by side before a bank of cameras outside the White House, a handful of governors poised to talk about their morning meeting with President Bush. The first question went to the governor of California. So did the second. And the third. Sensing a trend, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger interrupted the barrage to observe that the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Utah and Kentucky were being ignored. "I would like to say also that other governors are here," he said.

Seeking to break the stalemate over the federal budget, the nation's governors proposed Tuesday that they be given much broader authority to run Medicaid as they see fit, while still preserving a guarantee of health care benefits for the needy.

In their second back-to-back speeches of the year, President Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) laid down their views on government, entitlement programs and values before the nation's governors Tuesday but ended up sounding more like kindred spirits than the election rivals they may soon become. Appearing at the winter session of the National Governors' Assn.

The National Governors' Assn. opened its annual meeting Saturday with a burst of presidential politics as Republican governors criticized Vice President Al Gore as a promoter of "the politics of false choice" and Democrats labeled Texas Gov. George W. Bush's record as "less than stellar." Neither Bush nor Gore, the apparent Republican and Democratic nominees for president, planned to attend the NGA meeting.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson struck a seemingly Republican-style blow for free enterprise last year when he opposed the National Governors Assn. by contending that states should not have the authority to tax commerce on the Internet. Now, Gov. Gray Davis has done the same thing. California's new Democratic governor last week voted against a resolution on state Internet taxes that was approved overwhelmingly by his colleagues at an annual meeting of the nation's governors in Washington, D.C.