One of America's 5 Best Governors: Janet Napolitano (of course!)

[lady lib]

America's 5 Best Governors

When it comes to raw political talent, there's not a Bill Clinton in this group. But these are the rainy days. And charisma doesn't keep you dry. A roof does. Meet the hardest-working carpenters.
By AMANDA RIPLEY AND KAREN TUMULTY/WASHINGTON
TIME Online Edition

Janet Napolitano/Arizona

A Mountaineer on the Political Rise

Governing a hard-core republican state like Arizona is a steep proposition for a Democrat. Janet Napolitano likes the steeps. A former mountain climber who has hiked the Himalayas and summited Mount Kilimanjaro, Napolitano, 47, has pulled herself to the top job in Arizona—and many think she hasn't stopped climbing yet. Positioning herself as a no-nonsense, pro-business centrist, she has worked outside party lines since coming to office in January 2003 to re-energize a state that, under her predecessors, was marked by recession and scandal.

In her first week on the job, Napolitano took on the state's budget-deficit crisis. She presented a proposal that eliminated the $1 billion deficit without any tax increases. She persuaded moderate Republicans to vote the bill through with the minority Democrats. Now Arizona's economy is booming, with a projected budget surplus of more than $300 million and 4% job growth, the second highest in the nation after Nevada.

Napolitano has promoted social benefits like all-day kindergartens, a prescription-drug card for seniors and an innovative education policy that focuses on developing skills to ensure that students are better prepared for jobs. She has co-opted Republicans to support her agenda through several lures, including cutting business property taxes. And when she wanted to give a children's book to every first-grader in the state, she bypassed the system completely and over three years has solicited the $445,000 needed from private donors.

The one issue Republicans think they can use against the popular Napolitano is illegal immigration, because the huge number of border crossings have left many Arizonans feeling overwhelmed and powerless. Her critics claim she came to the problem late, but she seems to have navigated it deftly. Last November angry voters passed Proposition 200, which in part provides that undocumented aliens receive no state welfare benefits that they are not entitled to. Napolitano opposed it, as well as several bills that targeted illegal immigrants.

—By Terry McCarthy. Reported by David Schwartz/Phoenix

More...

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129494,00.html

Congratulations to our fine governor for a difficult job well done. You do the Dems proud!
:toast:

[DesertRat]

1. Janet rocks!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[Hello_Kitty]

2. She's brilliant too

You know how a lot of politicians are successful due to their personalities and charisma but aren't necessarily the sharpest tools in the shed when it actually comes down to knowledge of policy. Definitely not the case with Gov. Napolitano. According to a former state legislator I know, she is regarded as a walking encyclopedia. He says when they would have budget meetings, she would know what the projected figures were off the top of her head while everyone else was shuffling through charts trying to get to them. She is greatly respected and admired by members of both parties, with the exception of the rabid fundie fringe of course.

[lies and propaganda]

3. just left AZ after 5 years....

shes great....and she is pretty much on my okay list, but I will NEVER get over the laz attitude about Colo City.
Just setting up some bullshit YMCA is worth shit when these girls have been brainwashed since birth. We cant always worry about 'another Waco.' We need to get these raped unfortunate girls out of Colo City IMMEDIATELY.

[SammyBlue]

4. I love JNap!!! I love talking to her staff. I love her policies

They are little conservative for me, but I am extreme left wing.

I love Janet. FOUR MORE YEARS!!!

[jillan]

5. Ha ha! Talk about perfect timing.

I read an article in the Republican about the local GOP scrambling to run against her. The repugs are talking about having Bennett, the senate majority leader to be the one.


I will have to pick up that issue of Time and keep it handy for next summer, when it is closer to the elections.

[NoodleBoy]

6. I like the message that was put out a tiny, tiny bit a while ago-- that

Republicans don't want to run for Governor because it doesn't pay enough money. Meanwhile, Napolitano turned down a raise for herself. I think she makes something like $95,000/year, much more then the average Arizonan, but Republicans want more.

[NMDemDist2]

7. HI! you beat me to it! Kudos to our Janet huh?

:hi:

[lady lib]

8. Hi back at you! Janet's the best.

Nothing like having an ultrasmart Dem at the helm to show the Republicans how the job is done (all the while keeping the wingnuts in the state legislature in check). She is way beyond anyone else the Rupublicans have, and they know it.

:hi: