National Governors

WASHINGTON - After two days of listening to public criticism of President Bush's fiscal strategy, some Republican governors left the National Governors Association conference yesterday complaining that its tone had been uncomfortably partisan, thanks in large part to Maryland's Gov. Parris N. Glendening, the association chairman. After voting unanimously on policy resolutions concerning Medicaid and education reform yesterday, governors heard a closing speech by Senate Democratic Leader Thomas A. Daschle, whom Glendening inadvertently referred to as "the majority leader."

WASHINGTON -- The National Governors' Association is proposing radical changes in Medicaid that would allow states to provide health insurance to millions of additional people, but the benefits would be less generous than those now guaranteed to poor people. Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat who is chairman of the association, said yesterday that the new approach was needed because "health care costs are rising at the same time tax revenues are declining in many states," and yet many governors want to help provide coverage to people who are uninsured.

PARRIS GLENDENING missed another meeting of the Board of Public Works last week. His busy out-of-state itinerary once again took precedence over attending a voting session of this important state panel. Indeed, Mr. Glendening could be regarded as Maryland's "Travelin' Man." He's been on the road beyond Maryland for at least 38 days since Sept. 1. Kiawah Island, S.C.; Little Rock, Ark.; St. Louis; St. Paul, Minn.; Park City, Utah; Bremerton, Wash.; Iowa; Missouri; Ireland; South Africa; Ghana -- this guy's been chalking up gobs of frequent-flier miles.

A ONE-TIME university professor and now head of the National Governors Association, Parris N. Glendening no doubt relishes his role as instructor of the nation's newly elected governors. He tells them, no doubt, that timely attention to the nuts and bolts of state business is fundamental. Yet, he hasn't met that standard himself lately. On the road 32 days since Sept. 1, the governor hasn't attended a meeting of Maryland's Board of Public Works in five weeks. He rescheduled last week's meeting so he could be with the new governors in Utah.

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.

Guns, growth and dead fish have given Gov. Parris N. Glendening fleeting moments on the national stage. Now he's about to get a year in the political spotlight. Members of the National Governors' Association will gather today in State College, Pa., for a four-day conference that will conclude Tuesday with Glendening taking the reins of the organization. He becomes the first Marylander to chair the NGA since Marvin Mandel in 1972-1973. Glendening plans to use his year as chairman to acquaint the nation with a phrase he has made commonplace in Maryland: Smart Growth.

WASHINGTON -- The National Governors' Association has decided to oppose President Clinton's plan to set firm limits on federal Medicaid spending, contending that it would saddle states with more of the cost of providing health care to poor people, state officials said yesterday.Clinton says such limits are needed to impose fiscal discipline on the Medicaid program, which finances care for 37 million people.But in a confidential draft of their new policy, the governors say: "Any unilateral Federal cap on the Medicaid program will shift costs to state and local governments that they simply cannot afford.

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.