Friday, March 2, 2012

Mead puts his hand on state's helm

There is a new man at the helm of Wyoming's ship of state. Butdon't look for any major course corrections, as the previous captainhas set the state on a course toward success.

Former U.S. attorney and rancher Matt Mead was sworn in asgovernor Monday, replacing the popular and generally successful DaveFreudenthal. During the ceremony, Mr. Mead said, "I do not acceptthe average as good enough - from education to jobs to the economy."The people of this state should hold him to his words.

Fortunately for the new governor, he inherits from Mr.Freudenthal a state that is in good shape fiscally. Coffers onceagain are bulging at the seams, which means those funds, properlyused, can be invested to move the state forward on a number offronts.

Mr. Freudenthal started that process during his eight years inoffice, and Mr. Mead rightly promised a similar approach during lastfall's campaign. The Republican said then that he would like to seemore money put into highways and other infrastructure, such as high-speed Internet, with the goal of getting ahead of the nationalrecovery.

We hope he follows through on that even more aggressively thandid his Democratic predecessor - even if that means butting headswith legislative leaders, who already are showing a "save at allcosts" mindset. The goal should be to take a few risks to createjobs - paying for incentives for data centers, for example.

It was great, as well, to hear Mr. Mead mention education in hisremarks.

Mr. Freudenthal also got that ball rolling during his last coupleof years in office, demanding that districts be held accountable forresults. Yes, the state superintendent of public instruction iselected to run the schools, and lawmakers provide legislativedirection, but Mr. Mead must use his bully pulpit to shake residentsout of their doldrums: They think their schools are excellent. Theyare not.

One area where Mr. Freudenthal dropped the ball was in vision. Hepromised during his first campaign to "change the conversation" ofthe state, but he refused to spend any political capital during hiseight years to make that happen.

Mr. Mead has the youthful energy to ignite fresh thinking aboutwhat Wyoming can and should be. It is time to set aside the mythsthat ranching is king and that simply exporting energy is enough. Wehope the new governor will spur creative approaches, rather thansimply relying on platitudes like the Cowboy Code of Ethics.

We do disagree with Mr. Mead's insistence on fighting the federalhealth-care reform act. There already are court rulings on themeasure - for and against - so it is going to end up at the U.S.Supreme Court. There is nothing to be gained by squandering some $2million.

Still, we are excited by what we heard Monday and during thecampaign. Mr. Mead appears to be more than an able captain. Grabhold of the wheel, Mr. Governor, and steer Wyoming to greatness!

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