Gregoire reacts to "Grading the States" report

The governor's office has just released a statement in reaction to Pew's Grading the States report (announced this morning) in which Washington State received an "A" for effective government performance and management of public resources:

"That’s the kind of report card about which any parent would be proud!” Gregoire said in response to the latest ratings. "Although we are very proud of this success, we will keep striving to improve how we deliver results to the people of the state. Next time, we want to receive nothing but As [in each category]."

Pew attributed the improved results to the governor’s use of the Government Management Accountability and Performance project to set meaningful goals for state agencies and measure their progress toward achieving them.

Gregoire said this process has helped the state improve its efficiency and effectiveness, and a good example is the elimination of the long waiting list at the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR).

Since January 2007, DVR, a division of the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), has eliminated a waiting list that was once 14,274-people long — a feat that DSHS initially thought to be impossible — while steadily improving its success rate of putting people back to work.

While Republican Dino Rossi continues to insist that Democrats in Olympia are doing a terrible job, unbiased national observers say we're leading the country.

Leveling baseless labels like "failure" at our state's hardworking Democratic officials isn't going to lead to a GOP victory in November. But apparently it's the best attack they can come up with.

The Republican Party is bankrupt of promising ideas - and it's showing.