Illinois
Rod Blagojevich
Elected: 2002
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Blagojevich has been a leader in terms of health care, extending access to all Illinois children and an increasing number of working adults each year. He did this while keeping a campaign promise to eliminate the state's $5 billion deficit without raising income or sales taxes. Instead, he laid off nearly 13,000 state workers and bought renegotiated loans to pay off pension debt. To foster entrepreneurship, Blagojevich set up 18 centers that provide resources ranging from seed capital to business plan advice. Allegations of patronage and the mishandling of government contracts mar an otherwise impressive record.
Kansas
Kathleen Sebelius
Elected: 2002
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During her 2004 State of the State address, Sebelius said, "State government can't create jobs, but it must create a climate in which businesses can flourish." Ask business owners in Kansas and they'll say she has done just that. Riding a wave of popularity that stems from 22 straight months of job growth, Sebelius will probably waltz to a second term.
By all accounts, she's an expert manager. After inheriting a $1.1 billion deficit, Sebelius balanced subsequent budgets without raising taxes. Most famously, she analyzed the pool of government cars and sold 700 deemed extraneous.
She followed that up in 2004 by putting together legis lation that outlined strategies to pump new life into the economy. In practice, this has meant creating statewide entrepreneurship centers, establishing a $500 million, 10-year initiative to foster technology transfer at state universities, instituting an angel investment tax credit, and promoting ethanol and bioscience initiatives.
More recently, Sebelius worked with the legislature to eliminate property taxes on machinery and equipment purchased after July 1, 2006, and to raise the exemption for "low-cost" items from $400 to $1,500. "This law was a direct result of the governor reaching out to small businesses for guidance and asking them what is most important to them," says Hal Hudson, state director of the Kansas chapter of the NFIB.
"Kansas is a very entrepreneurial state, but our governors have traditionally not been all that pro-business; it has managed to do well in spite of itself," says Tom Devlin, founder of the Rent-A-Center retail chain and now the principal at a venture capital firm, Devlin Enterprises. "Sebelius is the first one who realizes the value of entrepreneurs."
Maine
John Baldacci
Elected: 2002
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Policy wonk John Baldacci has faced a laundry list of intractable problems: an aging population, some of the highest health care costs in the country, an inherited $1.2 billion deficit, and a high tax burden. In 2005, 13.5 percent of a Mainer's income went to state and local taxes, compared with the national average of 10.7 percent. To give a boost to the state's business community--96 percent of which consists of small employers--Baldacci eliminated the tax on business equipment.
He also had the courage to tackle health care. Launched with $53 million in public funds, Baldacci's Dirigo Health plan provides affordable coverage for 10,800 individuals and 2,300 businesses. The state continues to tinker with Dirigo to entice more Mainers to join.
Maryland
Robert Ehrlich
Elected: 2002
Rating:
Ehrlich is "unapologetically pro-business," according to his official biography. More to the point, he is a big booster of the technology transfer arrangements by which companies commercialize breakthroughs created in state labs. He established tax credits for individuals and companies that invest in early-stage, privately held biotech ventures. He is also a big backer of the state's technology development corporation, TEDCO. Finally, the governor deserves kudos for erasing a $1.8 billion inherited deficit, though in the process he cut funding for higher education by close to $120 million and tuition rose by 40 percent on some campuses.
