Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 26, 1993 TAG: 9304260371
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sure - it's in the nature of the species.
What governor wouldn't be happy to win recognition of a sort - second year in a row! - for having the best-managed state in the nation? And if that governor, nearing the end of his term, happens to be contemplating his political future?
Break out the champagne. Call a news conference - nay, not just a news conference, a glitzy event last week for state press and business pooh-bahs. Pass out copies of Financial World magazine with his picture on the cover. Somebody's about to pop his cork.
And that's OK. Wilder deserves more credit, certainly than his poll ratings would indicate, for his fiscal stewardship of state government. Financial World's No. 1 ranking (second year in a row!) means something, even though most Virginians who know of the magazine probably do so because Wilder brought it to their attention.
More important than the self-promoting magazine survey is the reality it reflects. Don't forget, in 1989, when Wilder was running for governor. There were suspicions, whispers, out-and-out allegations that he was an ultraliberal hiding cynically and temporarily under a cloak of fiscal conservatism and would, if elected, drive the state to financial ruin.
Only somewhat more charitably, critics said he simply was not a bottom-line man, had no interest in or talent for nuts-and-bolts management of the state's budget and bureaucracy.
On that score, Wilder has proved his critics wrong.
The magazine ranking (second year in a row!) is hardly the ultimate measure of his administration. The survey didn't consider policy choices or political decisions, on which Wilder's legacy must also rest. It didn't take into account the costs of balancing budgets with no new taxes - such as the neglect of school-funding disparities and eroding support for higher education. Instead, it based its judgment on such factors as long-range planning, accuracy of revenue estimates and the rainy-day fund created at Wilder's insistence.
Still, the report fairly gushes: Virginia's "excellent management systems are hard to beat. State maintained its triple-A [bond] ratings despite extreme strain on the budget: one-two punch of recession and defense cuts. Now it has begun to build balances back up. Performance measurement and evaluations also expand by leaps and bounds each year, with studies and analysis swiftly yielding results."
That kind of praise won't hurt state economic development efforts - or Wilder's political standing. The governor can add this press clipping to his arsenal of bragging rights. He's entitled.
by CNB