The Governors are in Town: Politico's State Solutions Conference   ...1 of 1 >
"There's a lot being accomplished at the state level." - Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Feb. 21, 2014 - Four governors, in town for the National Governors Association winter meeting, participated in Politico's fourth annual State Solutions Conference. 
First off was Gov. Peter Shumlin (D-VT), elected in 2010, re-elected in 2012 and now chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.  In the first part of the interview Politico senior White House reporter Glenn Thrush concentrated on political questions, asking Shumlin whether it was a mistake that the Democratic Governors Association had given just $7,600 to Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)'s Democratic challenger Barbara Buono in the 2009 campaign.  Shumlin rejected the notion.  He said that in the last nine governor's races where both the RGA and DGA have competed, the Democrats were outspent in all, yet won eight of those races.  Shumlin also said that the idea of Republican governors as "the great reformers is dead."  After going through some of the 2014 races, Thrush then turned to Shumlin's recent State of the State address, asking why he had chosen to focus his speech on the problem of heroin and opiate addiction.  Shumlin explained that Vermonters have "the best quality of life in the country" but "this is the one thing that could destroy it."  He said the problem is "driven by FDA approved pills" such as Oxycotin.
Next, Thrush interviewed Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN), first elected in 2010, after serving as mayor of Knoxville.  Haslam is also now policy chairman of the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee.  Thrush asked whether Haslam had gone "a little too far" in interjecting himself in the recent UAW vote at the VW assembly plant in Chattanooga.  Haslam said he felt compelled to act because the possibility of a new assembly line was at stake.  Asked whether he has any interest in running for president in 2016, Haslam said he is "not considering that or planning on that one bit."  The conversation then turned to Haslam's bold proposal, made in his State of the State address, that any graduating high school student in Tennessee will have the opportunity to attend two years of community college for free.  While acknowledging that it does not sound like a Republican idea, Haslam said, "We want more opportunity for people; we want people to have the right training."
Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS), elected in 2010 after serving in the U.S. Senate, spoke with Politico senior Washington correspondent Anna Palmer.  Brownback recounted that when he took office Kansas had just $876 in the state general fund and faced a $500 million shortfall.  "You had to change the financial trajectory," he said.  He has reduced the number of state employees and cut taxes, leading to growing business environment and revenues.  Asked about whether he has any interest in running for president in 2016, Brownback dismissed the idea.  "I'm fully occupied," he said.  Palmer asked Brownback how Republicans can counter the charge they are waging a "war on women."  He described himself as a "bleeding heart conservative," and noted his focus on poverty and mental health issues.  "We have a real problem with poverty in the United States," he said.  He described the Second Chance Act, which aims to find a mentor for everyone that comes out of the Kansas prison system after completing their sentences.  Brownback said he has made good progress on the five goals he set out in his 2010 campaign, noting improvements in three areas and a static situation in two others.  "There's a lot being accomplished at the state level," Brownback said.  Asked about the inability to get much done at the federal level, Brownback recounted working with Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) on the issue of human trafficking when they served in the Senate.  Although the two were at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, on that issue they found a zone where they could accomplish something.  Brownback returned to the problem of poverty.  "What are we doing to help people out of poverty?" he asked.  The answer, he said, is getting people skills. 
Politico senior political reporter Alex Burns interviewed Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO), elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012.  Nixon and other Democratic governors had just met with President Obama at the White House; Nixon said he found the president's "new team" reinvigorated and reenergized.  Asked how he is able to govern in a relatively conservative state (Republicans control both chambers of the General Assembly by more than two-to-one margins), Nixon cited shared values and fiscal discipline and said he has worked to establish personal relationships with as many members as he can.  "You've got to meet people where they are," he said.  Nixon said the political discourse in Washington is becoming "less and less relevant."  Asked about 2016, Nixon said, "We're all hopeful that Secretary Clinton makes a run, and if she does we'd be prepared to help make sure she got electoral votes of the Show Me state."  Nixon said she has "a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to public service."  (Politico posted a video clip titled "Jay Nixon won't rule out 2016 run").  Asked about Obamacare, Nixon again cited the need to "engage people where they are."  For example, he said, when considering people who work low wage jobs, "by golly they deserve health care as much as anybody else."  Nixon recounted working on a bill to provide autism coverage in his first year, only to see it fail.  He came back the next year and "we got it done."  It is a question of "which key is going to turn the lock," Nixon said.
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