It Was the Best of Time, It Was the Worst of Time

Somehow we on the 13th Floor let Time Magazine's 5-best/3-worst governors piece slip by us this week. It's not that we didn't notice it. We just weren't quite sure what to say about it. After all, Governing has already named three of the "best" governors as Public Officials of the Year--Mike Huckabee of Arkansas (2005), Mark Warner of Virginia (2004), and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas (as insurance commissioner, 2001). Time's other best picks were Kenny Guinn of Nevada and Janet Napolitano of Arizona.

There's fallacy, of course, in any "list" story. But they're provocative--and influential. Early this year, San Diego's pension scandal had then-Mayor Dick Murphy on the ropes, but it wasn't until Time named him one of the three worst mayors in the U.S. that he resigned.

Worst lists are probably easier to come up with than best lists. It's easy to kick someone who's down, as Time did with Louisiana's Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and Ohio's scandal-tainted Bob Taft. South Carolina's Mark Sanford, who is reasonably popular at home and scandal-free, is a more curious choice, as a reader in Columbia pointed out to us by e-mail this morning.

Another curiosity: look at how the "best" and "worst" governors (or at least their states) sized up in our latest Government Performance Project rankings. These grades are an overall measure of government management, not the ethereal qualities of executive leadership. So I wouldn't call this the best way to size up a governor. But it's interesting nonetheless:

"Best Governor" States:            "Worst Governor" States

Arkansas     C+                         Louisiana        B

Arizona       B                           Ohio               B

Kansas        B                           South Carolina  B

Nevada       B-

Virginia       A-