Gov. King talks Maine up at national session

WASHINGTON – Maine is ahead of most states when it comes to education, energy deregulation and rural economic development, Gov. Angus S. King said Monday on the White House lawn.

“The other governors were handing me their cards, asking me to give them details,” said King, an independent.

King, who is attending the annual National Governors’ Association meeting, said he met with eight Cabinet secretaries, dined with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and told President Bush that the federal government isn’t giving enough money to special education programs.

Bush’s tenure as the governor of Texas and the presence of three former governors in his Cabinet – Attorney General John Ashcroft of Missouri, Environmental Protection Agency Director Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin – help the president understand the dynamic between federal and state governments, King said.

“The most fundamental change in this presidency is that in his bones, Bush believes in federalism,” King said.

Bush told the governors that he was aware of the necessary balance between federal and state governments and would form a task force to make the relations between the federal and state governments more efficient.

“I’ve sat where you’re sitting and I know what it’s like to have a good idea, and then to wait on the federal government to tell you whether you can try it or not,” Bush said.

Bush also spoke to the governors about his plans for education, Medicaid and tax cuts. Several governors expressed concern about additional financial burdens the education and Medicaid plans may put on state budgets.

King expressed some reservations about Bush’s proposal to test schoolchildren each year from third to eighth grades. “I don’t want these annual tests to become too disruptive,” he said. Maine currently tests students in fourth, eighth and 11th grades.

King also said he brought up federal funding for special education, an issue in Maine. By law, the federal government should pay 40 percent of all special education funding, but it only actually pays about 12 percent, leaving the rest on the shoulders of state governments, he said.

Special education funding, the status of Maine’s appeal with the EPA designation of the Atlantic salmon as an endangered species, and federal assistance with energy are all on King’s agenda when he speaks with the Maine congressional delegation today.

The conference offered a chance for the governors to exchange ideas about programs. “We all struggle with the same issues,” King said.

Although he did not agree with all of the president’s ideas, King said the White House meeting was the most valuable from the weekend and he found the president to be knowledgeable about the issues at hand.