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Old 07-04-2015, 04:21 AM
 
Location: Just outside of McDonough, Georgia
1,057 posts, read 1,125,690 times
Reputation: 1335

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Teak View Post
What is it now, 66% of states have Republican governors? Why is that? Oh, is it because Republicans get down to business and grow the economy? And Republican governors are the ones who can be trusted? Why are the Democrats so bad at running states?
Not a registered Dem or GOPer, but I have to take issue with this broad brush statement.

I live in a state with a GOP trifecta (been this way since 2002). It's one of the most corrupt states in the country. Granted, it was corrupt in the pre-GOP era, but I haven't seen any attempts to fix the endemic corruption in our state government.

But enough anecdotes, let's take a look at data. All state abbrevations conform to USPS standards.

First, let's look at which party runs each state. Ballotpedia says that 23 states have GOP trifectas, and 7 have Dem trifectas. In case you don't know, a state government trifecta describes a situation where one political party holds power over all partisan branches of state government. In most cases, this means the state house, state senate, and the governor's office. Ballotpedia's information is out of date as of November 2014, so I had to doublecheck the data.

These states have GOP trifectas: ID, UT, AZ, WY, ND, SD, KS, OK, TX, WI, MI, IN, OH, TN, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, and LA. Nebraska has a non-partisan unicameral legislature, and Alaska's governor is an independent.

These states have Dem trifectas: HI, OR, CA, CO, IL, WV, MD, DE, CT, RI, MA, and VT. DC effectively has a Dem bifecta (the Council is unicameral).

But that's just a list. Let's take a look at how these states fare in terms of corruption and economics.

First, corruption. I've already given you my anecdote on my home state of Georgia. What about other states? The Center for Public Integrity has put together the State Integrity Investigation, which tracks the level of corruption in state governments. Generally, it's more a matter of which states are the worst of the worst.

The report is a bit inconclusive as to whether GOP or Dem states are more corrupt. You have GOP and Dem states at the bottom (with my GOP-run state in dead last,) while you also have GOP and Dem states at the very top (with a Dem trifecta state, Connecticut, ranking second). As for the trifecta states, Connecticut is at the top (D), along with California (D), Nebraska (effectively R), Mississippi (R), Tennessee (R), and Rhode Island (D). As you can see, a mixed bag.

Trifectas at the bottom include states like Georgia (R), South Dakota (R), Wyoming (R), South Carolina (R), Michigan (R), North Dakota (R), and Michigan (R). I'm noticing a pattern of the most corrupt states run almost exclusively by one party. The least corrupt states are a mix of D and R states, but the ones on the bottom are almost exclusively R, with some split-states (like Virginia) thrown in as well.

Of course, you mentioned economic competence as well. Indeed, the State Integrity list doesn't have a big correlation between economic standing and corruption. Look at North Dakota, for instance; at the bottom of the list, but that state posts high growth rates.

The GOP states do come out better in this one at first glance. What kind of business wouldn't want to move to a state where overall tax rates are lower and union-related issues almost nonexistent? Texas and North Dakota in particular have consistently posted high growth rates even during the height of the Great Recession, mainly off the back of the energy industry (though Texas in particular has diversified quite a bit). However, it's important to keep in mind that a lot of states compete with each other in who can produce the most tax incentives to entice a business to relocate to their states. GOP-run governments in Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana are especially guilty of this on auto plants and film-related industries, Atlanta in particular has essentially become a film capital off the back of GA's aggressive tax credit wars with Louisiana and North Carolina. However, that doesn't excuse the fact that tax rates in general are too high in most of the Dem trifecta states, driving businesses off in the first place.

Of course, that does not mean that Dem state economies are dead, no siree. California still has the nation's (and one of the world's, for that matter) largest economy. Other Dem trifecta states like Oregon and Massachusetts are still doing well economically speaking.

Finally, governors. Both parties have governors that always seem to get into trouble. Illinois's Rob Blagojevich (D) was indicted a few years back, as was Virginia's Bob McDonnell (R). Rick Perry is facing felony charges in Texas. Oregon just lost a Dem governor (John Kitzhaber) on corruption charges. Pat McCrory (R) has faced nepotism and corruption allegations on his former role at Duke Energy. You can easily do a Google search for "[Your governor] corruption" and in most cases, there will be news articles on something stupid, illegal, and corrupt your governor did. At the end of the day, it's difficult for me to find a correlation between political party and gubernatorial corruption.

That's why I cannot agree with your statement. There are too many local variables and nuances that must be considered before declaring "Democrat states are poorly run", "GOP governors can be trusted", or "GOP states are backwaters".

- skbl17

Last edited by skbl17; 07-04-2015 at 04:31 AM..
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Old 07-04-2015, 04:59 AM
 
Location: Salisbury,NC
16,757 posts, read 8,142,639 times
Reputation: 8529
Christie the crook comes to mind after reading this Tread.
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Old 07-04-2015, 09:02 AM
 
3,758 posts, read 5,284,912 times
Reputation: 6187
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeyJude514 View Post
You make my point for me. Look how long and how hard the right has been trying to smear her. Look at that ridiculous list of failed attempts. They have all led to nothing, all been dismissed as tinfoil hat fantasies. Thank you for so succinctly proving what I am saying.
They have all lead to nowhere because the mainstream liberal media refuses to cover them and many people -with the attention span of a toddler- tune it out if it isn't on NBC, CBS, ABC, or CNN. The liberal media instead pushes any issue that puts the Republicans into a bad light. Look at the Traffic-cone Gate issue that they made such a stink about. Many liberal pundits were hoping that it would derail Christie's presidential run. Instead he dealt with it swiftly and is back in the race.

Hillary instead runs and hides the evidence and tries to make herself the victim.

Again, please address the topic of THIS thread. How are you going to spin the FACT that she committed a Federal crime? You can't? I didn't think so.
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Old 07-04-2015, 09:05 AM
 
3,758 posts, read 5,284,912 times
Reputation: 6187
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boss View Post
Christie the crook comes to mind after reading this Tread.
What Federal law did he break?

You know, if you throw mud up against the wall sometimes NONE of it sticks.

Please address the topic of THIS thread? How are you going to spin the FACT that Hillary broke Federal code with her in-house server? You can't, that's why you deflect the issue.

Typical Dem. No supportable facts so throw mud.
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Old 07-04-2015, 09:33 AM
 
3,758 posts, read 5,284,912 times
Reputation: 6187
Quote:
Originally Posted by skbl17 View Post
Not a registered Dem or GOPer, but I have to take issue with this broad brush statement.
We make broad statements sometimes for the sake of brevity. If you want to devote an entire thread to this topic, go ahead. It would make for a good discussion.

For example, let's take a closer look at Illinois and several other Great Lake states.

In the November 2014 elections, Illinois elected a Republican governor, the first Republican since 2003. Since the mid 1990's, the Democrats have controlled the state House and Senate.

Let's take a look at the jobless trend in Illinois between 2011 and 2014. It fell only 0.7% over that period with a Democrat-controlled legislature and a Democrat governor. Meanwhile, the jobless rates in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin all fell by rates between 1.6% and 3.3%. Why the difference? Michigan got a Republican governor in 2011. Wisconsin got a Republican governor in 2010. Ohio got a Republican in 2011. Indiana has had a Republican governor since 2005.

Illinois raised its income tax from 3 to 5% and its corporate rate from 7.3 to 9.5%. Meanwhile, those other Great Lake states either cut taxes, introduced right-to-work laws, or reformed collective bargaining.

Illinois also had the lowest personal income growth over that period amongst the Great Lake states. And basically one third (1/3) of the personal income growth in 2013 was attributed to "transfer receipts", which are food stamps, worker's compensation, unemployment benefits, and etc.

In 2013, 31,000 workers left the labor force in Illinois (-31,000) while the workforce in Michigan (+2,000) and Indiana (+11,000) grew.

Some major companies moved their businesses OUT of Illinois (Kenall Manufacturing, Hanna Cylinders, EMCO Chemical, AM Manufacturing and Carl Buddig & Co.) and INTO neighboring states.

And let's not forget the latest news about Illinois's $111 billion pension shortfall. Worst in the USA.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...court-i9fs4sid

No wonder the people of Illinois finally wizened up and elected a Republican governor.

Now, back to the topic of Hillary's Federal crime.
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Old 07-04-2015, 10:59 AM
 
15,047 posts, read 8,833,310 times
Reputation: 9509
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teak View Post
They have all lead to nowhere because the mainstream liberal media refuses to cover them and many people -with the attention span of a toddler- tune it out if it isn't on NBC, CBS, ABC, or CNN. The liberal media instead pushes any issue that puts the Republicans into a bad light. Look at the Traffic-cone Gate issue that they made such a stink about. Many liberal pundits were hoping that it would derail Christie's presidential run. Instead he dealt with it swiftly and is back in the race.

Hillary instead runs and hides the evidence and tries to make herself the victim.

Again, please address the topic of THIS thread. How are you going to spin the FACT that she committed a Federal crime? You can't? I didn't think so.
Ah, yes, the old "liberal media" trope. You've trotted out all the oldies but goodies in this thread.
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Old 07-04-2015, 11:15 AM
 
26,918 posts, read 15,115,776 times
Reputation: 11917
Quote:
Originally Posted by florida.bob View Post
Another phony scandal in the process of unravelling.


Wow, they walk among us.
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Old 07-04-2015, 11:19 AM
 
26,918 posts, read 15,115,776 times
Reputation: 11917
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayland Woman View Post
What federal law precisely did she break? It's not like her personal server was the only thing she used to communicate with while in the State Department. No classified material was sent with her personal server, that's all on cables.


Does Sid Blumenthal have Clearance and a need to know?

Just what was his Official position?
Oh that's right , he was on the Hillary personal payroll.
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Old 07-04-2015, 12:22 PM
 
Location: Inland Empire, Calif
2,884 posts, read 5,626,378 times
Reputation: 2803
It's impossible to have an intelligent discussion with a liberal because they bury their collective heads in the sand and refuse to admit the truth. This strategy allowed the most corrupt president in history to be elected to office twice, and after watching his incompetence and corruption for 6 years now, they still can't see anything wrong with either he or Hillary, who has never accomplished anything of a positive nature.
You must come to the conclusion that they are either absolutely and completely ignorant, or that they enjoy seeing America turned into a third world country. They will never admit the obvious so there is no reason to hold further discussions with them, as the only result will be frustration. They simply can not be helped.
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Old 07-07-2015, 07:22 PM
 
3,758 posts, read 5,284,912 times
Reputation: 6187
For the record, Chris Christie was cleared by THREE (3) investigations into Traffic-Cone-Gate. He didn't know what was going on. There has yet to be an investigation into Hillary's criminal use of a server in her home for governmental work and there is no way she could have been ignorant of that. I would say that hiding official correspondence from everyone is more of a crime than some misplaced traffic cones.

Looks like some pollsters are stating what many of us already know. The Clinton campaign is sinking ... again. Will they have a THIRD rally to announce her candidacy? Hahahaha ...

Pollster John Zogby: Clinton Campaign Is 'in Trouble'
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