Free Republic

Which of these new governors, since taking office, have reduced the size of their state bureaucracy? Less than half of them have, despite hard economic times that have hit state budgets. And you might also be surprised at which ones did...

FRANKFORT — A year after Gov. Steve Beshear implemented the federal health care law without legislative approval, Senate Republicans plan to push a constitutional amendment that would curb the governor's power to issue administrative regulations. Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said his caucus would push for the restriction early in the 2014 General Assembly that begins Tuesday. The proposed change to the state Constitution would keep a regulation issued by the governor or executive branch from taking effect if lawmakers declare it deficient. The governor and executive agencies issue about 700 regulations each year to implement various laws approved by...

http://www.lp.org/candidates/liberty-candidates-13/ken-kaplan Ken Kaplan for Governor of New Jersey

Obama told 25 governors on a conference call that the shutdown "is hurting local economies." President Obama hit Congressional Republicans on Friday telling a bipartisan group of governors that the "brinksmanship strategy" of shutting down the government and threatening default is something "the country can't afford." Obama made the comments to 25 governors on a conference call aimed at discussing the effect of the federal shutdown on state budgets and the overall economy, according to a White House readout of the call....... Obama was joined on the call by senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, NEC Director Gene Sperling, Deputy Office of...

Earlier this week, CNN asked me to write an op-ed on Ted Cruz, and whether he’s a realistic contender for the presidency. My reaction: Of course he is — but probably not in 2016. And for that matter, neither are the Republicans who seem to get the most mention for that position: No one doubts that Cruz has a bright future in the Republican Party, but that doesn’t mean the future is now.Cruz, like Rubio and Rand Paul, have only barely arrived on the national stage and are many years younger than their sell-by date. None of the three has...

Sometimes off-year elections provide insight into national political trends and voters' views on issues. That was true in 2009, when the issues in the governor elections in New Jersey and Virginia were congruent with the issues facing Congress and the president. In both states the Republicans campaigned for lower spending and taxes, in contrast to the Obama Democrats' policies. Heavily Democratic New Jersey voted narrowly for Republican Chris Christie, and in Virginia, the state voting closest to the national average in 2008 and 2012, Republican Bob McDonnell won a landslide victory. This turned out to be a good predictor of...

If ever there was a region where incumbent Republican governors can experience the great GOP gubernatorial apocalypse, it is the upper Midwest. Three of the races involve Republican incumbents who rode the Republican wave of 2010 into office. They are Rick Snyder in Michigan, John Kasich in Ohio and Scott Walker in Wisconsin. That potential loss of three Governor’s offices may be mitigated by a Pat Quinn Democratic loss in Illinois. The problem is that Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin are less red than Illinois is certainly blue.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has become the eighth Republican governor to agree to expand Medicaid coverage in his state under the provisions of Obamacare. Is the last line of Republican resistance to Obamacare disintegrating? In 2011, 26 states joined a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the provision of Obamacare, which forced them to participate in expanding Medicaid coverage as a condition to continue to participate in the program. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor last year, negating the mandatory requirement, so it is now voluntary for states to expand Medicaid coverage. The Congressional Budget Office still estimates...

Vice President Joe Biden told a gathering of the Governor's Association at the White House today that the American people are "tired of being tired."

Gov. Chris Christie got the seat of honor at tonight’s annual governor’s dinner, sitting next to first lady Michelle Obama. The New Jersey governor, a Republican, joined governors from across the nation at the annual Governor’s Association Meeting, and at one point, clinked glasses with the president’s wife. Mr Obama had praised Gov. Christie for his response to Hurricane Sandy and his effort to get funding to those who were most affected by last October’s storm.

Washington may be a tax reform wasteland, but out in the states the action is hot and heavy. Nine states—including such fast-growing places as Florida, Tennessee and Texas—currently have no income tax, and the race is on to see which will be the tenth, and perhaps the 11th and 12th. Oklahoma and Kansas have lowered their income-tax rates in the last two years with an aim toward eliminating the tax altogether. North Carolina's newly elected Republican Governor Pat McCrory has prioritized tax reform this year and wants to reduce the income tax. Ditto for another newcomer, Mike Pence of Indiana,...

The Common Core Standards are an educational reform movement initiated by the National Governors Assocation and intended to standardize the educational curricula of the states around a "coomon core" of knowledge required to function in modern society. Put that way, the initiative sounds fine, but as if often the case with educaitonal reforms, Common Core proponents have relied on bafflement and obfuscation to shut down inquiry by the paying public into the very political process of putting the initiative into action -- a process monetarily supported by private education corporations. Common Core tests (those used in Oklahoma were developed by...

Arizona Sens. John McCain (R) and Jon Kyl (R) said Tuesday they have no idea where Gov. Jan Brewer (R-Ariz.) is. “No, everybody keeps asking me that,” Kyl told The Hill. “I didn’t know she was missing.” McCain answered similarly. “Since I wasn’t home last weekend I didn’t know about this,” McCain told The Hill. “Jon [Kyl] just told me that there was some issue that she’s not around.” On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Brewer was taking a week-long out-of-state work trip that’s shrouded in mystery. Her office has refused to disclose her location or the nature of...

Obamacare has more chinks in its armor than a turtle without a shell. As a result, state governors and legislators can inflict great damage. The following amazing chink was discussed by a Goldwater Institute attorney during a Tennessee-based webinar on Monday . It's only 10 lines long in the 950-page version of the law: "No individual, company, business, nonprofit entity, or health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall be required to participate in any Federal health insurance program created under this Act (or any amendments made by this Act), or in any Federal health insurance program...

As for Christie, Malloy said, “I didn’t start the fight with Christie. He made a rather snarky comment about me not having read the manual (for being a governor). But the reality is you couldn’t have two states going in opposite directions to the same extent that we are.” Malloy made his remarks in an appearance on Colin McEnroe’s radio talk show on WNPR Monday afternoon. Malloy blasted “the games” that Christie is playing with the funding of pensions, saying he’s “kicking the can down the road.” Malloy is a Democrate is Christie is a Republican. The comments came after...

I had a history teacher who used to say that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to—but you should be prepared to face the consequences. He was usually talking about homework assignments, but there was always an implied message of the responsibility of rebellion: Defy the powers that be if you must, but always be aware of the results that will follow. In the wake of all of the nationwide protests over Obamacare, my teacher’s words remain prudent advice. A number of GOP governors have publicly stated that they will ignore the recent Supreme Court Decision or...

We are going to end Obamacare at the state level by using the KISS principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid, so let’s get it started! Using simplicity and common sense, we Americans can take this into our own hands and do what we need to do to prove that Obamacare is irrelevant and unnecessary at the state level. All we need is a simple solution, which this article provides, and one state that will pursue this by doing a little homework. Let me start by telling you what this is NOT… this solution is not reliant on the politicians who...

Contrary to the oft-repeated media narrative that the Republican Party is not inclusive, there are actually more female Republican governors than female Democratic governors, and considerably more minority Republican governors than minority Democratic governors.

Every single one of [the 17 states that elected a tea party-supported governor in 2010] has seen its unemployment rate decline since January 2011. Three of them have had unemployment drop by more than 2% (Michigan, Florida, and Nevada). The average drop in the unemployment rate in these states was 1.35%. For a comparison, in January 2011 the U.S. national unemployment rate stood at 9.1%. It is currently 8.2%, meaning that the national unemployment rate has declined by just 0.9% since then. Based on these percentages, it can be said that the job market in states with new Republican governors...

A growing number of Republican state leaders are revolting against the major Medicaid expansion called for under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, threatening to undermine one of the law's most fundamental goals: insuring millions of poor Americans. The Supreme Court opened the door Thursday, June 28, when it announced that although the rest of the law is constitutional, the federal government cannot punish states that refuse to adopt the measure's more generous eligibility rules for Medicaid. The Republican governors of four states -- Florida, Iowa, Louisiana and South Carolina -- have declared that they want to opt out of...