Nation S Governors

WASHINGTON -- Have the nation's governors become a ''surrogate summit'' to reach middle-ground accords beyond the reach of Capitol Hill Republicans and the Clinton White House?So it seemed as the governors completed their winter meeting last week.In a demonstration of policy acumen and political compromise, they not only crafted solutions to the welfare and Medicaid dilemmas but did it by a unanimous, bipartisan vote.For a quarter-century, the governors have been sharpening their national policy-making skills, helping for example to hammer out the ground-breaking 1988 welfare-reform bill and 1989 national education goals.

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of the nation's governors said last night that they had agreed on a bipartisan proposal on Medicaid, one of the major stumbling blocks in the budget impasse between President Clinton and Republicans in Congress.The governors, at a conference of the National Governors' Association, said they had also made progress toward a compromise on welfare, another major issue in the budget debate.By themselves, the governors cannot alter Medicaid or welfare policy now set by the federal government.

Half the nation's governors are expected to run for re-election this year. For two Republicans, 1994 could be a trial run for a presidential bid in 1996.One is Gov. Pete Wilson of California. His four years as chief executive have been a disaster in California, literally. There have been earthquakes, devastating forest fires, a terrible riot; and the state's economy, especially in the populous south, is still not rising out of the recession apace with most of the rest of the nation.Governor Wilson said this week in Washington, where the National Governors' Association was meeting, that he should not be included on the presidential sweepstakes lists, because if re-elected he wants to focus on getting his state back on the road to better times.

TULSA, OKLA. -- President Clinton launched his campaign for a universal national health care plan yesterday by telling the nation's governors that reform cannot be accomplished without bipartisan support and everyone sharing in the cost.In a 45-minute speech to the National Governors' Association, followed by a two-and-a-half hour private working session with the governors, the president tried to overcome concerns about how the program will work and how much it will cost by warning that the nation cannot afford to let the existing system continue.

Imagine an America without standards -- no weights and measures, anyone who likes drives a car, airline pilots who are long on enthusiasm but short on skills, self-declared brain surgeons, basketball players who can dribble but not shoot. It's a hair-raising vision, but exactly the situation we face in our nation's schools.Alone among the industrialized nations, America has no national education standards. The product of our frontier past, "local control" is a venerated, even mythical tradition.

TULSA, OKLA. -- President Clinton launched his campaign for a universal national health care plan yesterday by telling the nation's governors that reform cannot be accomplished without bipartisan support and everyone sharing in the cost.In a 45-minute speech to the National Governors' Association, followed by a two-and-a-half hour private working session with the governors, the president tried to overcome concerns about how the program will work and how much it will cost by warning that the nation cannot afford to let the existing system continue.

Washington -- President Clinton spent so much time with the nation's governors last week that it seemed he wished he were one of them again.On Sunday evening, he invited all 50 to a gala White House dinner, the first of his administration. On Monday, he had them at his new residence again for a meeting of almost three hours discussing the budget deficit and potentials for national health reform. And on Tuesday morning, the president was with the governors once more, at their conference hotel, to talk to them about welfare reform, one of their favorite subjects.

Maryland's governor received an unwarranted one-two punch last week when Money magazine and "Prime Time Live" named William Donald Schaefer the "prince of perks" among the nation's governors for his lavish lifestyle. It was, as his press secretary termed it, a cheap shot.To call Mr. Schaefer frugal would be an understatement. He is a notorious penny-pincher whose idea of a good meal out is McDonald's; whose suits are years, if not decades, out of fashion; whose vacations take place not at posh resort hotels but in his own trailer in middle-class Ocean City.

IF MISERY REALLY does love company, Gov. William Donald Schaefer should be happy. The London Economist points out that he has plenty of company among his confreres. The British )) journal also finds a little silver lining for beleaguered congressmen:"As Washington's politicians sink ever lower in public esteem, they may cheer themselves with this thought: Outside the American capital, there are politicians who are despised with a venom that would startle even the most thick-skinned congressman."

Some of the nation's best numbers-crunchers were in Baltimore last week, bemoaning the budget crises precipitated by the current recession and contemplating more bad news in the future.For the nearly 90 members of the National Association of State Budget Officers, representing 38 states, their annual conference was a time to commiserate with one another over tumbling state revenues and continuing bleak economic forecasts. Public resistance remains widespread to the notion that services have zTC to be cut drastically or taxes raised dramatically to meet the balanced-budget requirements of most states.

Philadelphia - The nation's governors met with President-elect Barack Obama yesterday to help craft an economic stimulus plan that would include money for ready-to-go transportation projects and programs for the poor stretched thin by increased demand. Several dozen governors gathered here for the pre-inaugural summit as the country has officially fallen into recession, and as many state budgets have seen widening deficits brought on by sluggish tax receipts. The conversation also veered from funding for alternative energy and updating the country's power infrastructure to investing in a high-speed rail system and health care technology, participants said.

WASHINGTON -- When he was mayor of Baltimore, Martin O'Malley was a star among the leaders of America's big cities, winning praise and recognition from his peers coast to coast. But when he walked into a National Governors Association meeting for the first time yesterday, he found himself a rookie in a much more exclusive league. The governor will spend much of the next three days at the NGA's annual winter meeting in Washington attending seminars on education policy, the environment and economic development - all the while rubbing elbows with some of the nation's most prominent leaders, including at least one candidate for president.

Tomorrow night, Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening will stand at the White House, raise a glass and offer a toast to his new good friend, President Bush - the same man he bashed repeatedly through last fall's campaign. That contentious history will be put aside - if not forgotten - during much of the next four days as Glendening presides over the annual winter meeting of the National Governors' Association in Washington. Glendening assumed the chairmanship of the group last summer, but the Washington conference is his first opportunity to head a major NGA event.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Gov. Parris N. Glendening basked in a moment of personal and political triumph yesterday as he took over as chairman of the National Governors Association The governor told his fellow governors he would concentrate his efforts on the issue of controlling sprawl - in effect taking his statewide Smart Growth initiative to the national stage. "It is time for some new thinking on how we use land in this country," the governor said. Glendening, 58, reached what could be the pinnacle of his three-decade political career as the governors wound up a four-day conference in the home of Pennsylvania State University.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The death penalty has been the subject of heated public discussion in recent months, but the nation's governors - many of whom hold life- or-death power over condemned prisoners - are treating the topic as a taboo subject at their annual conference. Meeting behind tight security amid the mountains of central Pennsylvania, the almost 40 governors at the session talked about telecommunications, education, taxation and other issues - but studiously avoided even technical discussions of capital punishment.

WASHINGTON -- Have the nation's governors become a ''surrogate summit'' to reach middle-ground accords beyond the reach of Capitol Hill Republicans and the Clinton White House?So it seemed as the governors completed their winter meeting last week.In a demonstration of policy acumen and political compromise, they not only crafted solutions to the welfare and Medicaid dilemmas but did it by a unanimous, bipartisan vote.For a quarter-century, the governors have been sharpening their national policy-making skills, helping for example to hammer out the ground-breaking 1988 welfare-reform bill and 1989 national education goals.

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of the nation's governors said last night that they had agreed on a bipartisan proposal on Medicaid, one of the major stumbling blocks in the budget impasse between President Clinton and Republicans in Congress.The governors, at a conference of the National Governors' Association, said they had also made progress toward a compromise on welfare, another major issue in the budget debate.By themselves, the governors cannot alter Medicaid or welfare policy now set by the federal government.

Half the nation's governors are expected to run for re-election this year. For two Republicans, 1994 could be a trial run for a presidential bid in 1996.One is Gov. Pete Wilson of California. His four years as chief executive have been a disaster in California, literally. There have been earthquakes, devastating forest fires, a terrible riot; and the state's economy, especially in the populous south, is still not rising out of the recession apace with most of the rest of the nation.Governor Wilson said this week in Washington, where the National Governors' Association was meeting, that he should not be included on the presidential sweepstakes lists, because if re-elected he wants to focus on getting his state back on the road to better times.

Imagine an America without standards -- no weights and measures, anyone who likes drives a car, airline pilots who are long on enthusiasm but short on skills, self-declared brain surgeons, basketball players who can dribble but not shoot. It's a hair-raising vision, but exactly the situation we face in our nation's schools.Alone among the industrialized nations, America has no national education standards. The product of our frontier past, "local control" is a venerated, even mythical tradition.

Maryland's governor received an unwarranted one-two punch last week when Money magazine and "Prime Time Live" named William Donald Schaefer the "prince of perks" among the nation's governors for his lavish lifestyle. It was, as his press secretary termed it, a cheap shot.To call Mr. Schaefer frugal would be an understatement. He is a notorious penny-pincher whose idea of a good meal out is McDonald's; whose suits are years, if not decades, out of fashion; whose vacations take place not at posh resort hotels but in his own trailer in middle-class Ocean City.