He is a good governor, but he does not have small government in his DNA. He can best be described as a conservative technocrat.
He can intellectualize and understand the principles, but at his core he does not view government as a necessary evil. He does not have the Founder's hostility towards the nature of government (Reagan has the spirit of the Founders in his DNA).
At one point early on in his administration he could have grabbed the ball to get rid of the state income tax, but he didn't. That was a big disappointment.
There was a bill that allowed tax free purchases on guns and ammo. The legislature proposed more days during the year to have them, but he opposed that (he feared the lost revenue). There were other things that could have pushed to turn us towards less government, but I can't recall them at this moment.
We have to remember he came out of college and immediately went into government. He doesn't quite understand that government at ALL levels need to be scaled back dramatically.
While he is a good governor, he will never be a bold leader that stands out in history.
We’ve never had small government at all levels.
didn’t he sign a law that would ban cash transactions to buy used goods?