GOVERNORS’ POWERS
Here are how governors of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama fare in an index of powers held by the nation’s 50 governors. The highest a governor can get is 5.*
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen
* Overall rating: 3.8
* Separately elected executive branch officials — 4.5
* Tenure potential (number of terms, length) — 4
* Appointment power — 4
* Budgetary power — 3
* Veto power — 4
Party control of legislature — 3
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue
* Overall rating: 3.2
* Separately elected executive branch officials — 1
* Tenure potential — 4
* Appointment power — 2
* Budgetary power — 3
* Veto power — 5
* Party control — 4
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley
* Overall rating: 2.8
* Separately elected executive branch officials — 1
* Tenure potential — 4
* Appointment power — 3
* Budgetary power — 3
* Veto power — 4
* Party control — 2
National Average
* Overall rating: 3.5
* Separately elected officials — 2.9
* Tenure potential — 4.1
* Appointment power — 3
* Budgetary power — 3.1
* Veto power — 4.5
* Party control — 3.2
* Source: The Institutional Power Ratings for the 50 Governors of the United States, 2007. Dr. Thad Beyle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Notes:
Separately elected executive branch officials: 5 — only governor or governor/lieutenant governor team elected; 4.5 — governor or governor/lieutenant governor team, with one other elected official; 4 — governor/lieutenant governor team with some process officials (attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor) elected; 3 — governor/lieutenant governor team with process officials, and some major and minor policy officials elected; 2.5 — governor (no team) with six or fewer officials elected, but none are major policy officials; 2 — governor (no team) with six or fewer officials elected, including one major policy official; 1.5 — governor (no team) with six or fewer officials elected, but two are major policy officials; 1 — governor (no team) with seven or more process and several major policy officials elected.
Source: CSG, The Book of the States, 2007: forthcoming.
Tenure potential of governors: 5 — 4-year term, no restraint on reelection; 4.5 — 4-year term, only three terms permitted; 4 — 4-year term, only two terms permitted; 3 — 4-year term, no consecutive election permitted; 2 — 2-year term, no restraint on reelection; 1 — 2-year term, only two terms permitted.
Source: CSG, The Book of the States, 2007: forthcoming.
Governor’s appointment powers in six major functional areas: corrections, K-12 education, health, highways/transportation, public utilities regulation, and welfare. The six individual office scores are totaled and then averaged and rounded to the nearest .5 for the state score. 5 — governor appoints, no other approval needed; 4 — governor appoints, a board, council or legislature approves; 3 — someone else appoints, governor approves or shares appointment; 2 — someone else appoints, governor and others approve; 1 — someone else appoints, no approval or confirmation needed.
Source: CSG, The Book of the States, 2007: forthcoming.
Governor’s budget power: 5 — governor has full responsibility, legislature may not increase executive budget; 4 — governor has full responsibility, legislature can increase by special majority vote or subject to item veto; 3 — governor has full responsibility, legislature has unlimited power to change executive budget; 2 — governor shares responsibility, legislature has unlimited power to change executive budget; 1 — governor shares responsibility with other elected official, legislature has unlimited power to change executive budget.
Source: CSG, The Book of the States, 2007: forthcoming; and NCSL, “Limits on Authority of Legislature to Change Budget” (1998).
Governor’s veto power: 5 — governor has item veto and a special majority vote of the legislature is needed to override a veto (3/5’s of legislators elected or 2/3’s of legislators present; 4 — has item veto with a majority of the legislators elected needed to override; 3 — has item veto with only a majority of the legislators present needed to override; 2 — no item veto, with a special legislative majority needed to override a regular veto; 1 — no item veto, only a simple legislative majority needed to override a regular veto.
Source: CSG, The Book of the States, 2007: forthcoming.
Gubernatorial party control: The governor’s party, 5 — has a substantial majority (75 percent or more) in both houses of the legislature; 4 — has a simple majority in both houses (under 75 percent), or a substantial majority in one house and a simple majority in the other; 3 — split control in the legislature or a non-partisan legislature; 2 — has a simple minority (25 percent or more) in both houses, or a simple minority in one and a substantial minority (under 25 percent) in the other; 1 — has a substantial minority in both houses.
Source: NCSL Web page
NASHVILLE — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is politically hot; Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley are not, and an already lukewarm Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen may be cooling down next year.
That’s according to a gubernatorial “power rating” index that assesses the clout wielded by each of the nation’s 50 governors.
The Institutional Powers of the Governors index, developed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill political science professer Thad Beyle, assesses governors’ clout in six areas from vetoes to budgetary authority. The factors are generally outlined by state constitutions.
A top Bredesen aide, Will Pinkston, downplayed what the index says about Tennessee’s governor.
“It’s tough to realistically assign values to governing power,” Mr. Pinkston said in an e-mail. “Even if you pick a few categories to look at, there are still lots of intangible things to consider, like a governor’s ability to work across party lines or his management and life experience.”
Gov. Bredesen, a Democrat, earned 3.8 out of a possible 5 rating while Republicans Perdue and Riley respectively earned ratings of 3.2 and 2.8. The national average is 3.5.
Efforts to reach Dr. Beyle last week were unsuccessful.
The latest index, dated last year, shows Gov. Palin, recently named as GOP presidential nominee John McCain’s running mate, with a 4.1 rating out of a possible 5. Top honors went to the governor of Massachusetts who gets a 4.3 rating.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page last week cited Dr. Beyle’s index, noting that while a “rap” on Mrs. Palin’s qualifications is that she governs “one of our least populated states,” the index shows “that the governor’s office in Alaska is one of the country’s most powerful.”
Two Tennessee political science professors said the journal’s editorial doesn’t take into account the different challenges that governors of far bigger and more complex states face.
“I think that’s somewhat of an inflated, phony argument,” said University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Robert Swansbrough, noting California’s population of 36 million people dwarfs Alaska’s estimated 670,000 people and California’s current deficit is larger than Alaska’s entire $12 billion budget.
Vanderbilt University political scientist Bruce Oppenheimer said, “I would not want to start saying that Palin is more powerful than Arnold Schwarzenegger or Phil Bredesen or that the job’s anywhere near the same size.”
RATING DETAILS
Gov. Bredesen earns just 3 of a possible 5 rating on his budget authority because state lawmakers have more input on budget matters than in some other states.
The governor’s ability to veto legislation can be overridden by a constitutional majority of lawmakers compared to two-thirds majorities required in some states. That earns the state a 4 out of 5.
Gov. Bredesen also receives 2 out of a possible 5 on party control of the legislature since Tennessee Republicans in 2007 elected their first Senate speaker since post-Civil War Reconstruction. Democrats still control the House.
A spokesman for Georgia Gov. Perdue’s spokesman did not return a telephone call on Friday.
Alabama Gov. Riley’s communications director, Jeff Emerson, said he is unfamiliar with Dr. Beyle’s index. But he chuckled when asked about his boss’ constitutional restraints and challenges, noting “we’re probably near the bottom” before a reporter could state what the findings were.
“Its not about the person,” Mr. Emerson said. “It’s about the powers and the authority that each state’s constitution allows the governor to have.”
Dr. Beyle also maintains a separate index on chief executives’ “personal powers.” It takes into account factors such as a governor’s latest electoral margin of victory and length of time left in office.
That shows Gov. Palin with a 4.3 rating out of a possible 5. Gov. Bredesen earned a 3.8 while Govs. Perdue and Riley, who also leave office in 2011, were rated at 3.8 and 4, respectively. The national average was 3.9.
The three governors received ratings of 3 out of a possible in 5 in 2007 for the length of time they have left to serve. But in 2009, that rating will drop to a 1 for all three since they are “lame ducks” entering the last two years of their second and final terms.
Bredesen adviser Pinkston was skeptical.
“I suppose if this were a stock-market index, Gov. Phil Bredesen would be rated a pretty strong ‘buy,’” Mr. Pinkston said. “It’s an interesting academic exercise, but at the end of the only measure that really matters is the voters’ opinion.”
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