Arnold Gets A D!

Anthony Pignataro:

The good news is Cato Institute‘s new Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors came out today. The annual ranking scores governors on their taxing and spending records. The bad news is our beloved Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t do so hot. He scored a miserable 47 out of a possible 100. Cato is being generous calling this a D (there’s something of a grading curve, since only four governors received A grades, and Mark Sanford of South Carolina earned the highest score, a otherwise shabby 74). Considering that Arnold earned a C last year, this is pretty sad.

“During his years in office, Governor Schwarzenegger has gyrated between support for tax and budget reforms and support for the legislature’s big government policies,” the Cato report noted. “Schwarzenegger has made some reforms to California government, but he will be handing over a giant economic and fiscal mess to the next governor. State unemployment is over 12 percent, the state’s pension system has massive funding gaps, and the state’s bond debt has exploded.”

It seems wrong to let Schwarzenegger graduate with grades as poor as these, but in this case, I don’t think anyone in the state would object.

SEPT. 30, 2010