NGA Welcomes Governors To 2009 Winter Meeting

NGA Welcomes Governors To 2009 Winter Meeting

I’ve been watching much of this – this past weekend on C-Span…

See also Jeff Quinton’s Inside Charm City: O’Malley calls out Sanford and others as “fringe governors”

I found the remark by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley: “All of us are committed to working with President Obama to pull our nation’s economy out of the ditch that George W. Bush ran it into,” extraordinarily suspect and unfortunate.

It is reminiscent of the governor’s assessment of the etiology of the escalations in electric rates in his gubernatorial contest against former Governor Robert L. Ehrlich.

Candidly, I certainly hope that Governor O’Malley knows economics better than this…

Please see: My recent columns in The Tentacle on the economy by Kevin Dayhoff Congress and The Rattlesnake – Part 3; Congress and The Rattlesnake – Part 2; Congress and the Rattlesnake – Part 1 (Look for a partial list of columns pertaining to the current economy… at the bottom of this post...)

NGA News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 21, 2009

Contacts: Jodi Omear, 202-330-9761 Christopher Cashman, 202-345-8659

NGA WELCOMES GOVERNORS TO 2009 WINTER MEETING

Governors to Focus on Infrastructure, State and Federal Issues

WASHINGTON-The nation's governors gather here this weekend to address critical issues, including infrastructure and the economy. Governors also will meet with President Obama, members of the Administration, business executives and other experts for discussions on a host of issues and challenges facing states.

Led by NGA Chair Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell and NGA Vice Chair Vermont Gov. James Douglas, business sessions at the three-day event will include two major plenaries and meetings of the four NGA standing committees. The NGA Winter Meeting will run from February 21-23, at the J.W. Marriott hotel.

Gov. Rendell's Chair's initiative, Strengthening Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future<http://www.nga.org/ci>, is the main topic of discussion today. This morning's opening plenary session will focus on the critical importance of infrastructure to America's economy, environment and quality of life and will set the stage for subsequent sessions throughout the meeting. Dr. Frank Luntz, CEO of the Word Doctors; T. Boone Pickens, founder and chairman of BP Capital Management; and John W. Rowe, chairman and chief executive of Exelon Corporation, will speak at the session.

"Infrastructure is vital to our nation's economic prosperity and to our modern way of life," Gov. Rendell said. "My Chair's initiative, Strengthening Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future, enlists the efforts of all governors to rebuild, repair and extend our infrastructure to ensure America's continued economic competitiveness as well as its environmental sustainability."

Later this afternoon, infrastructure will be the focus of a Miller Center Discussion and Debate. The event, moderated by Robert MacNeil, former co-anchor of the MacNeil Lehrer Newshour, features panelists Gov. Rendell; California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; Douglas Foy, president of DIF Enterprises; and JayEtta Hecker, senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The last half hour of debate will be a question and answer session among all governors. The entire debate will be webcast live at www.millercenter.org/debates<http://www.millercenter.org/debates>.

On Sunday, governors will examine infrastructure financing, accountability and sustainability during a special session with guests Bruce Katz, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, and former U.S. Ambassador to France Felix Rohatyn. In addition, governors will take part in meetings of each of NGA's four standing committees: Economic Development and Commerce; Education, Early Childhood and Workforce; Health and Human Services; and Natural Resources.

Private "governors-only" sessions, including a meeting with President Obama at the White House, provide governors a venue for sharing their thoughts and views on common challenges.

"As governors, we face many similar issues and can learn a great deal from our colleagues' experiences," said Gov. Douglas. "The NGA Winter Meeting gives governors the opportunity to exchange ideas as well as discuss our shared policy challenges and effective solutions."

The meeting will conclude Monday, with a plenary session focused on international infrastructure best practices. Dr. Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, will join the discussion, along with Connie Hedegaard, Denmark's minister for climate and energy.

###

Founded in 1908, the National Governors Association (NGA) is the collective voice of the nation's governors and one of Washington, D.C.'s, most respected public policy organizations. Its members are the governors of the 50 states, three territories and two commonwealths. NGA provides governors and their senior staff members with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the Administration on key federal issues to developing and implementing innovative solutions to public policy challenges through the NGA Center for Best Practices. For more information, visit www.nga.org<http://www.nga.org/>.

_____

My recent columns in The Tentacle on the economy by Kevin Dayhoff

January 24, 2009

I have had a number of folks recently ask where they may find my recent columns in The Tentacle on the economy:

October 3, 2008
Congress and The Rattlesnake – Part 3
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On May 13, 2008, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama compared the current housing crisis in the U.S. to the Great Depression in a campaign stop in Missouri.


October 2, 2008
Congress and The Rattlesnake – Part 2
Kevin E. Dayhoff
For several weeks the nation and the world have been watching the financial news emanating from Washington and Wall Street with that “deer in headlights” look as everyone holds their breath in disbelief and worries another shoe will drop.


October 1, 2008
Congress and the Rattlesnake – Part 1
Kevin E. Dayhoff
In response to the increasing wrath of the American voter, the U.S. House of Representatives came to its senses on Monday and voted 288 to 205 to kill the rash and ill-conceived proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.


November 5, 2008
It’s the Congress, Stupid!
Kevin E. Dayhoff
When historians look back on the 670-day, $2.5 billion 2008 presidential campaign, the observations, analysis, second-guessing, and finger pointing will fill volumes. In the end, it was once again, “the economy, stupid” that ruled the day.


November 19, 2008
Rewarding Bad Behavior
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Instead of tooling down the highway in the fast lane, two months after General Motors celebrated its 100th Birthday on September 16, it found itself huddled over at an intersection with fate, harassing passers-by with a tin pan in hand.


November 26, 2008
“The Eight Years War”
Kevin E. Dayhoff
At high noon on Monday, amid cries of alarm that this is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, President-elect Barack Obama rolled out his all-star economic team and a call for an economic stimulus package that could cost as much as $1 trillion.

20090124 my recent columns in The Tentacle on the economy

Kevin Dayhoff
His columns appear in The Tentacle, www.thetentacle.com;
The Westminster Eagle /Eldersburg Eagle The Sunday Carroll Eagle - Opinion: http://explorecarroll.com/opinion-talk/

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Twitter:
My recent columns in The Tentacle on the economy by Kevin Dayhoff: http://tinyurl.com/c9tqrh

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-recent-columns-in-tentacle-on.html

20090221 NGA Welcomes Governors To 2009 Winter Meeting