The Blog

Governor Chris Gregoire Governor Chris Gregoire

03/04/08

Dear Friends,

Pew Award

Our hard work to make Washington state government the best in the nation is drawing attention once again from outside our state — this time by the prestigious Pew Center on the States. The Center just gave our state an A- ranking for its performance in managing public resources.

Washington tied with Utah and Virginia for first place. The three states are the only ones to earn A- grades. Washington’s ranking is up from B+ in 2005, and is a full letter grade higher than the national average of B-.

Here’s what Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said about our state:

“Washington has been well managed during challenging economic circumstances, delivering strong services to the public and effectively managing the state’s dollars. Washington has long been a standout in using data to drive strategic decisions. And now Governor Gregoire has opened up discussion of those decisions through public meetings where agency leaders can be held accountable for results.”

I’m proud of our state and our state employees. But I’m especially proud about what this award means: It means that Washington’s hard-working families are getting their money’s worth from state government.

Here is the full report: Grading the States 2008 Report.

Hanford in the Washington Post

I’m using every pressure point I can find to get the federal government to step up and do what it agreed to do to clean up the Hanford nuclear reservation. One of those pressure points is publicity. That’s why I teamed up with U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell to write an op-ed piece about the situation for the Washington Post.

SR 520 bridge

When the Department of Transportation told me in January that it couldn’t finish building a new SR 520 bridge until 2018, I told the agency that wasn’t good enough. So WSDOT went back to the drawing board, and figured out a way to cut four years off the time it will take to build the bridge and two years off the time it will take to revamp the whole, vital corridor linking Seattle and the east side of Lake Washington.

What this means is that the bridge will be done by 2014, and the whole corridor by 2016. I’m pleased at DOT’s efforts and pleased at the result. Not only will the project be done far sooner, but we expect the faster time will save taxpayers up to $700 million. Let me also mention now that we have chosen Grays Harbor as the place where pontoons will be built for the new bridge. This will bring new jobs to Grays Harbor.

News Release: Washington earns top rating for managing public resources

Chris