Governor Greg Abbott lavished with President Donald Trump praise in May at meeting before Texas became epicenter.

ALEC Ranks Abbott as Number One Governor
in USA Despite Covid Management Nightmare

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor
October 20, 2020

A group that's popular among conservative legislators named Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday as the best in the nation at the job he performs and may have little chance to win again as a member of a tanking Texas GOP.

Abbott's number one ranking in the American Legislative Exchange Council Economic Freedom study capped off a year that's been worse than all of the others in an otherwise illustrious political career combined.

The report that was composed by veteran economist Arthur Laffer and several associates had GOP Governors Brian Kemp of Georgia, Kristi Noem of North Dakota, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Gary Herbert of Utah, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Bill Lee of Tennessee and Eric Holcomb of Indiana in the seven spots below their Texas counterpart.

Governor Jared Polis of Colorado was the only Democrat to crack the top 10 as the ninth best state leader in the report card that ALEC compiled as an organization that's controlled by the brothers who run Koch Industries. Democratic Governors Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Steve Sisolak of Nevada and Tony Evers of Wisconsin were rated 15th, 19th and 20th respectively in the ALEC assessment.

The country currently has 26 governors who are Republicans and 24 who are Democrats. Eight governors for the GOP were ranked in the bottom half of the ALEC class.

The ALEC study suggests that Abbott has done a good job during the coronavirus based on the assertion that Texas was better prepared financially for the pandemic than most other states as a result of frugal and proactive economic policies.

"Keeping government trim also enabled Texas to be more prepared for the fiscal shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic than 40 other states," the ALEC report says. "Despite an estimated revenue shortfall nearing 15%, Texas’ state savings accounts were able to cover the entire budget shortfall without raising taxes. Gov. Abbott’s insistence on saving state resources for a rainy day enabled Texas to respond appropriately to the COVID-19 crisis without endangering state finances and protect taxpayers at the same time."

ALEC gives Abbott credit for the Rainy Day Fund without mentioning that Democrats created the state savings account in the 1980s. The report says that Texas has "the lowest growth in spending" in the nation under the current governor who was elected initially in 2014.

The ALEC appraisal also fails to point out that Abbott has been attacked by conservatives for record state budget increases. The report ranks Texas 35th in the country in "proposed and enacted" state spending changes.

ALEC glosses over Abbott's performance during the coronavirus crisis as the most critical challenge that the state has faced in modern history. The Republican governor vowed to make the public health his overriding priority before putting politics first with early decisions that culminated in Texas' status as the epicenter of a deadly summer surge.

Texas has been playing catch up from way behind as a consequence of the governor's repeated failure to read the handwriting on the wall or to anticipate the consequences of the lax early leadership and attempt to stay in President Donald Trump's good graces.

As a relatively moderate establishment Republican by the far-right standards here, Abbott made the epic mistake of trying to play it right down the middle at a time when that simply wasn't possible. Abbott to his credit has had the guts to admit that he's been wrong in hindsight without actually saying so publicly like he did when he imposed a statewide mask order in July after his reckless decision to overturn local face covering ordinances this spring.

But Abbott might have ruined an otherwise impressive legacy by pandering to critics who've been offended by the concept of sacrifice for the greater good with their opposition to masks and blatant disregard for the public health in a state where nearly 880,000 covid cases have been recorded with almost 18,000 deaths from infections. A governor who'd appeared invincible politically at the state level finds his approval ratings falling while he spends millions on a desperation bid to save the GOP majority in the Texas House as the most important battlefield here despite the focus on the top of the ticket.