U.S. GOVERNMENT | A resilient balance of institutions
30 November 2006
U.S. Governors Head American “Laboratories of Democracy”
Diverse group of chief state executives prepare to take oath of office
Washington -- When Sarah Palin takes the oath of office December 4 as Alaska’s governor, she will become the first of 11 new governors selected in the November U.S. midterm elections who will assume office as a top executive in state government.
In each of the 50 states, the structure of state government loosely mirrors that of the U.S. federal government with executive, legislative and judicial branches. The governor performs many of the same functions at the state level that the U.S. president does at the national level: sets policy, appoints department heads, prepares and administers a budget, recommends legislation, and signs laws. In most states, the governor also plays an important role in appointing state and local judges.
In the U.S. system, states have a high degree of autonomy. States cannot enact laws that are in conflict with the U.S. Constitution and cannot engage in activities that are set aside as exclusively federal, such as negotiating treaties, but have broad jurisdiction in most other areas of governance. States levy taxes, establish license fees, determine how state revenues are spent, regulate businesses and administer the systems of health and safety services that affect the daily lives of their citizens.
State governments frequently serve as proving grounds for legal or regulatory initiatives that eventually achieve national acceptance. In 1890, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis described state governments as "laboratories of democracy" willing to develop innovative approaches to meet society’s needs.
“It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country," he wrote in a dissenting opinion to a Supreme Court decision striking down state regulation of the manufacture and sale of ice.
U.S. VOTERS ELECTED 11 NEW GOVERNORS, RETURNED 25 INCUMBANTS
On November 7, American voters cast their ballots in 36 gubernatorial races, re-electing 25 governors already serving and sending new governors to serve in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York and Ohio.
Although not yet fully reflecting the diversity of the American society they represent, this group of incoming governors encompasses a wide range of ages, cultural heritages and experiences.
Some, like Palin -- who at 42 is the youngest governor elected in Alaska’s history – are young by U.S. norms to be heading state governments. Iowa’s Chet Culver, Maryland’s Martin O’Malley, Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty, Oklahoma’s Brad Henry and South Carolina’s Mark Sanford all were born in or after 1960.
Palin also is part of another growing demographic – female governors. In addition to Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas and Michigan selected women to serve as top state executives, electing or re-electing M. Jodi Rell, Linda Lingle, Kathleen Sebelius and Jennifer Granholm, respectively.
The governors elected November 7 include two from U.S. minority populations. Massachusett’s Deval Patrick will be the second African American to serve as a state governor. (The first was Virginia’s Doug Wilder, elected in 1989.) New Mexico’s Bill Richardson, elected in November to a second term, is Hispanic.
Two governors re-elected in 2006 were not born in the United States. California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria, Michigan’s Granholm in Canada. Two others are children of immigrants. The father of Illinois’ Rob Blagojevich came to the United States from Serbia and both parents of New York’s Eliot Spitzer left Austria for the United States, fleeing Nazi persecution.
Other governors, neither foreign-born nor the children of immigrants, nonetheless take pride in their ethnic roots. Maine’s John Baldacci proudly identifies himself as an Italian-Lebanese American in his official biography, while O’Malley’s green signs and Celtic music celebrate his Irish heritage.
In an era of expanding globalization, state governors increasingly are likely to have international interests and experience. Richardson is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and four-time nominee for a Nobel Peace Prize. Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty met with Mexico’s president, Vicente Fox, in 2004. As a result of that meeting, Mexico opened a consulate in Minnesota. Pawlenty also accompanied a trade mission to China in 2005. O’Malley, a longtime activist for peace in Northern Ireland, accompanied then-President Bill Clinton to Ireland in December 2000. Rhode Island’s Don Carcieri formerly lived in Jamaica, where he headed the Catholic Relief Services in the West Indies.
The governors also come from diverse professional backgrounds. As in other groups of U.S. elected officials, many are attorneys. But a law degree is not a requirement for public service. Alabama’s Bob Riley is a self-described entrepreneur, Palin trained as a journalist, and Georgia’s Sonny Perdue headed a small business. Iowa’s Culver is a teacher, while New Hampshire’s John Lynch was the chief executive officer of a furniture manufacturing firm.
Regardless of age, ethnicity or professional background, each of the governors elected to office in November will take oaths of office in the next few weeks in which they pledge to uphold the law and protect the rights of the governed, regardless of race, religion or cultural heritage.
"Our nation's motto is 'E Pluribus Unum' -- out of many one,” O’Malley told USINFO. “America's diversity -- with many cultures coming together to form one society -- is one of our greatest strengths. … [W]e know we'll make more progress if we celebrate and build on that strength.”
Additional information on U.S. governors is available on the Web site of the National Governors Association.
