Here's the report's Executive Summary, and a link to the page with a governor's spreadsheet and the main report. Thanks for letting me know it was there, very cool.
Executive Summary
As states continue to claw their way out of the worst state budget hole in years, this report presents the findings of the Cato Institute's seventh biennial fiscal policy report card on the nation's governors. The report card's grading is based on 15 objective measures of fiscal performance. Governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades. Those who have increased spending and taxes the most receive the lowest grades. Our analysis shows that states that keep tax rates low and restrain spending growth have the best economic performance and thus the best longterm fiscal health.
This year, four governors receive the grade of A: Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Craig Benson of New Hampshire, Bill Owens of Colorado, and Judy Martz of Montana. Four governors receive Fs for their poor performance in dealing with the state fiscal crisis: Bob Holden of Missouri, Bob Taft of Ohio, Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania, and James McGreevey of New Jersey.
The grades of the governors of some of America’s most populous states are Jeb Bush of Florida, B; George Pataki of New York, B; Rick Perry of Texas, B; and Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, D.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3691
Thanks for looking up that link. Here is some more info on Jeb Bush from it:
Jeb Bush of Florida has garnered an impressive
record of tax cutting by successfully
fighting against sales tax increases and phasing
down the state’s dreaded intangibles tax.
Remarkable among current incumbent governors,
Bush has presided over $10 billion in
total tax cuts since his first day in office.
---
The fiscal record of Jeb Bush’s past two
years shows some blemishes that have
bumped his grade from an A in 2002 to a B
this year. His tax record is still one of the
most impressive of any governor. He has proposed
and signed into law a tax cut virtually
every year of his tenure so far—ranging from
cuts in property taxes to cuts in the fuel tax
to a phaseout of the intangibles tax (a tax on
certain financial assets, including stocks and
bonds). The blemishes on his record have
lately come in the form of larger budgets.
Although his first term was remarkable for
its spending restraint, his last two proposed
budgets have grown substantially faster than
population and inflation. His 2004 general
fund budget proposal grew by 8 percent, and
his 2005 budget proposal—including the
“supplemental” additions—grew by a whopping
15 percent. Bush is also not immune to
corporate welfare schemes: he handed $310
million in taxpayer money to the Scripps
Institute to lure it to Florida from La Jolla,
California. Scaling back the rate of increase
of the state budget will be vital to a better
grade on the 2006 report card.
This doesn't take into account Charter school legislation - something that is a top priority in my book and something that GW Bush has dropped the ball on and tort reform, both of which CATO doesn't measure, but Jeb has done well on. Looks like he's slipping a bit with spending now though... Interestingly, that CATO report seems to show how when governors settle into power they start grabbing more power and taxing and spending more.