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Republican Governor's Association Dinner 10/17/89 [OA 3536] [2]
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Republican Governor's Association Dinner 10/17/89 [OA 3536] [2]
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Folder Title:
Republican Governor's Association Dinner 10/17/89 [OA 3536] [2]
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25
6
5
6
You may be Surpresed to hear this,
My ambition in life has always Davis/Martin been
to be a Gov. III You see, I fig. Oct. Title: 10,
1989
Governors
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL H wauld ADDRESS: Blvd REPUBLICAN out GOVERNORS My ASSOC., resume.
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m.
Thank you Chairman Hayden for that gracious introduction.
My congratulations go to you for your effective tenure, and to
your successor, Governor Ashcroft.
aneshoused Grt leader shy
the TA a time of Lurblacet
Let us also honor a governor who stood his ground through a
time of turbulence and tragedy
Carroll Campbell of South
Carolina. \\
Governor Kean, I'm pleased you'll soon be joining my
loss
Administration as the head of the Advisory Panel of the Thousand
NJ
X
Points of Light Foundation. ( (I'm sure we'll be just perfect
Im willhe gice
together. ))//
(
(Finally, I also want to recognize a former chairman of
part Leanas you of anead
this association, and my chief of staff, John Sununu. \\ John,
did you hear of the boy in the spelling bee who was asked if he
could spell your last name? The boy said he could spell
"Sununu," but he just wasn't sure when to stop. ))\\
As you know, I am not an alumnus of your organization. But
over the years, as I worked with the governors, I have come to
fully appreciate the responsibility you are shouldering, and the
leadership you provide.
But of course, there are times when federalism seems to be a
mixed blessing. It is not possible for a governor to shy away
from the hard decisions. You are responsible, as am I. You are
Bill, I'm m not Slue if thats
Phosl
cowage or hunga. MBut have
arceieved.
Its good to see my got fred,
Gou. Clerents, from my home
State of TX. you may not
know this, but the Dallas
poper reptrd last who that
gou. Climents was tining in
a rest. when a holdeup +
a shoot occurred right in
front of him. But the must
demallcable part of all, is
that not once through order
did Gov. clen put his hamb doo,
Oct. 13, 1989
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
Through:
CHRISS WINSTON
From:
MARK DAVIS MD
Subject:
Republican Governors Association
SUMMARY: You will address the Republican Governors Association
at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 17, at the Capitol Hilton. You will be
introduced by Governor Mike Hayden of Kansas, the current RGA
Chairman, who will soon relinquish his post to Governor John
Ashcroft of Missouri. Your remarks will be teleprompted.
DISCUSSION: This speech looks back to the Charlottesville
summit, and acknowledges the need for bipartisan cooperation on
urgent national issues. At the same time, the best ideas and
leadership have come from the Republican Party -- a claim proven
by our record of peace and prosperity. This speech denounces the
unfair, partisan gerrymander -- a form of voter discrimination
that governors can help end. At the same time, this speech makes
it clear that in this age of federalism, governorships are valued
for hemselves -- not just for their influence on
reapportionment. Majority control of the governorships is a
national goal of the Republican Party.
what they CAN Acheive
always
2
forced to confront the gritty problems, as am I. Some describe
this responsibility as a great burden. But as I said before, for
us, if it is a burden, it is one we cheerfully accept. To sit
where the buck stops, to resolve disputes, to help those in need
and to set a course for the future is to know a special kind of
satisfaction.
For that reason I believe we can, we must, as chief
executives take responsibility, join forces, and make a common
cause of building a better America.
That is why we came together at Charlottesville, at an
historic summit, only the third of its kind in our history. We
came together, with your Democratic counterparts, in open, wide-
ranging and creative sessions to seek a new direction in
education. In the end, we agreed to an historic compact -- a
Jeffersonian compact -- to set national goals; to allow for
greater flexibility, more creativity; and then to be accountable
for the results.
We could achieve this, because at Charlottesville we put
progress before partisanship, the future before the moment and
our children before ourselves. America simply faces too many of
these long-term challenges for us to act only as Republicans or
Democrats, conservatives or liberals. We must work together to
redeem our schools. We must work together to save our children
from drugs. We must work together to protect the environment and
meet the changing needs of the American family.
3
Still, this does not mean that there is no time and place
for partisanship. There is a Republican approach to the
challenges we face. And we have proven, time and again, that the
Republican approach is the best approach.
I consider this a matter of record, a record that includes
eighty-three months of economic growth and more than twenty
million new jobs. A few years ago, when our opponents said
that a tax cut would hurt the economy, we cut taxes -- and it did
the opposite. When our opponents said that a stronger defense
would make the Soviets more militant, we revitalized our armed
forces -- and the Soviets met us at the negotiating table. In
short, whatever has worked at the federal level happened only
because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress joined
forces to make it work.
So the bottom line is this -- throughout the 1980s, the
Republican Party has been the party of ideas. This is no less
true at the state level.
And while Republicans are leading the way, where is the
opposition? Answer: in the throes of an identity crisis. After
the longest peacetime expansion in history, the Democrats can't
quite bring themselves to admit that Republicans were right. Nor
do they have a new vision of where America should be going. All
they can do is cloak their out-of-step ideas in the language of
moderation.
I don't often quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt on partisan
matters. But the little story he told to make fun of his
4
Republican opponents fits the liberal Democrats so well today.
It is the story of the "unfortunate chameleon which turned brown
when placed on a brown rug, and turned red when placed on a red
rug, but who died a tragic death when they put him on a Scotch
Plaid.
This is precisely what we must do in the 1990 election -- to
keep the focus on the issues, and expose the true colors of the
chameleon candidates. For the national and state elections of
the 1990s will not just be a battle of the century; it will be a
battle for the century -- the 21st century.
We have proven, time and again, that our party can keep the
White House. But to win a majority of governorships, state
offices and seats in Congress, we must roll up our sleeves and
get down to the basics of winning elections. We must be more
competitive. We must rededicate ourselves to the nuts and bolts
of politics, the grassroots, as our opponents do.
As we look to the upcoming elections, we have three
obtainable goals. First, to move toward our rightful place as
the majority party of governors. As federalism has enhanced
your role, so the control of the governorships has become one of
the most critical national goals of our party. Our second goal
is to recapture the U.S. Senate. And third, we must open the
House of Representatives to two-party competition. But the key
to all three goals is the first -- to elect more Republican
governors.
5
It's no coincidence that our party slipped to minority
status in the House as we became a minority in state government.
It's no coincidence that the House majority remains in force
today. The Founding Fathers intended the House of
Representatives to be the most sensitive barometer of the
changing needs of the American people. Instead, whole
generations have never known what it means to experience a change
in party control of the House.
Let me tell you about my son Neil, as a way to illustrate
the seemingly unending nature of the Democratic majority. Neil
is thirty-four years old. Neil was born on January, 22, 1955,
three weeks after the last Republican Speaker turned the gavel
over to a Democrat. Not one time in his life has Neil seen the
leadership of the House of Representatives change parties. Not
one time. Just like Neil, there are millions of men and women
across America in their twenties and thirties who have never
known true two-party competition in the House.
Will the House remain static for another thirty-four years?
Yes, but only if Republicans passively accept it. Today,
Democrats now have a redistricting advantage in states that
compose about 90 percent of the seats in Congress. This must not
continue.
You know how the ugly gerrymander dilutes the votes of
Republicans and Independents across this country. We have
protested this in the past; but now it is time for us to raise
our voices, to become true activists. As Republican leaders, you
6
can take our message to voters of your states. You must declare
that this form of voter discrimination must end.
To lead America in the next century, we must make aggressive
gains at the state level in the next few years. A majority, or
even a large minority, of Republicans in state legislatures can
join with you to sustain the veto of outrageous gerrymander
schemes, strengthening our numbers in the U.S. House. Strong
state parties can also help us to win back the U.S. Senate.
But we have far greater reasons than reapportionment to
pursue the governorships of America. America faces tough
problems that require more than federal solutions. They require
national solutions. And solutions are now possible because the
states are embracing a new dynamism based on an old vision.
The great Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis foresaw a
time when: "a single courageous state
may serve as a
laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without
risk to the nation." ( (To borrow a phrase) ) The states are
becoming these "laboratories of democracy," with each state
endowed with freedom -- freedom to fail, freedom to succeed, and
freedom to discover and share its discoveries.
In an era of tight resources, necessity, the mother of
invention, has also proven to be the mother of creative policies.
You are following the advice of Teddy Roosevelt, a great
Republican governor who said that our national greatness "is not
what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in
which we use it."
7
Dozens of states are experimenting with ways to remove
obstacles to opportunity, and to bring the creative energy of
entrepreneurship to the public sector. Some of your experiments
are certain to become the national policies of the next century.
The states are at the forefront because the first instinct
of our governors is not to look to Washington, but to the
combined strength of the public and the private sector. Much has
been written about how governors in both parties are rejecting
the old ideologies and stale approaches of the past. Credit
should be given where it is due. But I have to say, while
Democrats have been adept at promoting new programs that attract
a lot of fanfare, the Republicans governors have quietly
distinguished themselves with programs that work.
The people know this. And come November, 1990, I believe
the voters will choose innovation and daring for their state
government. They will vote Republican.
But to win big, you must think big. We must have the
audacity -- not just to hold our own in the Senate, but to win it
back. We must have the tenacity -- not just to elect more
Members of Congress, but to reach for the Speaker's Chair. And
we must have the daring to seize the majority position among
governors.
Republican governors are already thinking big, thinking
ahead. You are the planners and the prophets, the managers and
the visionaries, the dreamers and the doers. You are the ones I
look to join me, in a partnership, to win the future.
8
So this is our vision: We are going to be the party that
leads the states. We are going to be the party that leads
Congress. Then we will be the party that leads America into the
21st Century.
\\
Thank you, God bless you and God bless America.
#
#
#
Document No. 08121133
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
10/12/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
FRIDAY, OCT. 13, 4:00 pm
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION
2 10b
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1989
SUBJECT:
(draft: one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
CARD
CICCONI
>
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
WRAY
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Room 122, x2930, no later than 4:00 p.m.,
Friday, October 13, with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
NC
29 : 9d EI 130 68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
081213SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
10/12/89
FRIDAY, OCT. 13, 4:00 pm
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1989
SUBJECT:
(draft: one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
CARD
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
WRAY
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Room 122, x2930, no later than 4:00 p.m.,
Friday, October 13, with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
not does and 10°
Cave
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Oct. 10, 1989
Title: Governors
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOC.,
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m.
Thank you Chairman Hayden for that gracious introduction.
1989 OCT i2 PM 7:04 04 to
My congratulations go to you for your effective tenure, and
your successor, Governor Ashcroft.
I also ask you to join me in honoring another governor among
us today, someone who stood his ground through a time of
turbulence and tragedy, a great governor and a true leader
Carroll Campbell of South Carolina. 11
( (Finally, I also want to recognize a former chairman of
this association, and my chief of staff, John Sununu. John,
did you hear of the boy in the spelling bee who was asked if he
could spell your last name? The boy said he could spell
"Sununu," but he just wasn't sure when to stop. ) )
((By the way, did you hear that ABC is going to air a made-
for-T.V. movie entitled: "George Bush, the War Years"?\ You can
pretty much guess what this movie will be about. It'll be about
the time I had to bail out.\\ And to think, Terry Branstad, that
there are actually people out there who would want to see a movie
about the Iowa primary. 111111
As you know, I am not an alumnus of your organization. But
over the years, as I worked with the governors, I have come to
fully appreciate the responsibility you are shouldering, and the
leadership you provide.
2
But of course, there are times when federalism seems to be a
mixed blessing. It is not possible for a governor to shy away
from the hard decisions. You are responsible, as am I. You are
forced to confront the gritty problems, as am I. Some describe
this responsibility as a great burden. But as I said before, for
us, if it is a burden, it is one we cheerfully accept. To sit
where the buck stops, to resolve disputes, to help those in need
and to set a course for the future is to know a special kind of
satisfaction.
For that reason I believe we can, we must, as chief
executives take responsibility, join forces, and make a common
cause of building a better America.
That is why we came together at Charlottesville, at an
historic summit, only the third of its kind in our history. We
came together, with your Democratic counterparts, in open, wide-
ranging and creative sessions to seek a new direction in
education. In the end, we agreed to an historic compact -- a
Jeffersonian compact -- to set national goals; to allow for
greater flexibility, more creativity; and then to be accountable
for the results.
We could achieve this, because at Charlottesville we put
progress before partisanship, the future before the moment and
our children before ourselves. America simply faces too many of
these long-term challenges for us to act only as Republicans or
Democrats, conservatives or liberals. We must work together to
redeem our schools. We must work together to save our children
3
from drugs. We must work together to protect the environment and
meet the changing needs of the American family.
Still, this does not mean that there is no time and place
for partisanship. There is a Republican approach to the
challenges we face. And we have proven, time and again, that the
Republican approach is the best approach. 11
I consider this a matter of record, a record that includes
eighty-three months of economic growth and more than twenty
million new jobs. A few years ago, when our opponents said
that a tax cut would hurt the economy, we cut taxes -- and it did
the opposite. When our opponents said that a stronger defense
would make the Soviets more militant, we revitalized our armed
forces -- and the Soviets met us at the negotiating table. In
short, whatever has worked at the federal level happened only
because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress joined
forces to make it work.
So the bottom line is this -- throughout the 1980s, the
Republican Party has been the party of ideas. This is no ess
true at the state level. Who is implementing alternative teacher
certification? Our Republican governors. Who enacted the first
child-care programs based on the principle of choice? OUT
Republican governors. Who is leading the way to welfare reform?
Or to protect our wetlands and environment? Again, it is you.
While Republicans lead the way, where is the opposition?
Answer: in the throes of an identity crisis. After the longest
peacetime expansion in history, the Democrats can't quite bring
4
themselves to admit that Republicans were right. Nor do they
have a new vision of where America should be going All they can
do is cloak their out-of-step ideas in the language of
moderation.
I don't often quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt on partisan
matters. But the little story he told to make fun of his
Republican opponents fits the liberal Democrats SO well today.
It is the story of the "unfortunate chameleon which turned brown
when placed on a brown rug, and turned red when placed on a red
rug, but who died a tragic death when they put him on a Scotch
Plaid. "\\"
This is precisely what we must do in the 1990 election -- to
keep the focus on the issues, and expose the true colors of the
chameleon candidates. For the national and state elections of
the 1990s will not just be a battle of the century; it will be a
battle for the century -- the 21st century.
We have proven, time and again, that can keep the
it. House. But t. W n a majorit, 0 : governo h: S, state
offices and seats in Congress, we must roll up our sleeves and
get down to the basics of winning elections. We must be more
competitive, for when it comes to the nuts and bolts of politics,
our opponents are the master mechanics of all time.
As we look to the upcoming elections, we have three
obtainable goals. First, to move toward our rightful place as
the majority party of governors. As federalism has enhanced
your role, so the control of the governorships has become one of
5
the most critical national goals of our party. Our second goal
is to recapture the U.S. Senate. And third, we must open the
House of Representatives to two-party competition. But the key
to all three goals is the first -- to elect more Republican
governors.
It's no coincidence that our party slipped to minority
status in the House as we became a minority in state government.
It's no coincidence that the House majority remains in force
today. The Founding Fathers intended the House of
Representatives to be the most sensitive barometer of the
changing needs of the American people. Instead, whole
generations have never known what it means to experience a change
in party control of the House.
Let me tell you about my son Neil, as a way to illustrate
the seemingly unending nature of the Democratic majority. Neil
is thirty-four years old. Neil was born on January, 22, 1955,
three weeks after the last Republican Speaker turned the gavel
over to a Democrat. Not one time in his life has Neil seen the
leadership of the House of Representatives change parties. Not
one time. Just like Neil, there are millions of men and women
across America in their twenties and thirties who have never
known true two-party competition in the House.
Will the House remain static for another thirty-four years?
Yes, but only if Republicans passively accept it. Today,
Democrats now have a redistricting advantage in states that
6
compose about 90 percent of the seats in Congress. This must not
continue.
You know how the ugly gerrymander dilutes the votes of
Republicans and Independents across this country. We have
protested this in the past; but now it is time for us to raise
our voices, to become true activists. As Republican leaders, you
can take our message to voters of your states. You must declare
that this form of voter discrimination must end.
To lead America in the next century, we must make aggressive
gains at the state level in the next few years. A majority, or
even a large minority, of Republicans in state legislatures can
join with you to sustain the veto of outrageous gerrymander
schemes, strengthening our numbers in the U.S. House. Strong
state parties can also help us to win back the U.S. Senate.
But we have far greater reasons than reapportionment to
pursue the governorships of America. America faces tough
problems that require more than federal solutions. They require
national solutions. And solutions are now possible because the
states are embracing a new dynamism based on an old vision.
The great Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis foresaw a
time when: "a single courageous state
may serve as a
laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without
risk to the nation." ( (To borrow a phrase)) The states are
becoming these "laboratories of democracy," with each state
endowed with freedom -- freedom to fail, freedom to succeed, and
freedom to discover and share its discoveries.
7
In an era of tight resources, necessity, the mother of
invention, has also proven to be the mother of creative policies.
You are following the advice of Teddy Roosevelt, a great
Republican governor who said that our national greatness "is not
what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in
which we use it."
Dozens of states are experimenting with ways to remove
obstacles to opportunity, and to bring the creative energy of
entrepreneurship to the public sector. Some of your experiments
are certain to become the national policies of the next century.
The states are at the forefront because the first instinct
of our governors is not to look to Washington, but to the
combined strength of the public and the private sector. Much has
been written about how governors in both parties are rejecting
the old ideologies and stale approaches of the past. Credit
should be given where it is due. But I have to say, while
Democrats have been adept at promoting new programs that attract
a lot of fanfare, the Republicans governors have quietly
distinguished themselves with programs that work.
The people know this. And come November, 1990, I believe
the voters will choose innovation and daring for their state
government. They will vote Republican.
But to win big, you must think big. We must have the
audacity -- not just to hold our own in the Senate, but to win it
back. We must have the tenacity -- not just to elect more
Members of Congress, but to reach for the Speaker's Chair. And
8
we must have the daring to seize the majority position among
governors.
Republican governors are already thinking big, thinking
ahead. You are the planners and the prophets, the managers and
the visionaries, the dreamers and the doers. You are the ones I
look to join me, in a partnership, to win the future.
So this is our vision: We are going to be the party that
leads the states. We are going to be the party that leads
Congress. Then we will be the party that leads America into the
21st Century.
Thank you, God bless you and God bless America.
#
#
#
081213SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
10/12/89
FRIDAY, OCT. 13, 4:00 pm
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1989
SUBJECT:
(draft: one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
CARD
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
WRAY
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Room 122, x2930, no later than 4:00 p.m.,
Friday, October 13, with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Sees communto- DRW 10/13
or as Chaged +
LO Sd £1130.68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Oct. 10, 1989
Title: Governors
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOC.,
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m.
Thank you Chairman Hayden for that gracious introduction
1989 OCT i2 PM 7:04° 07
My congratulations go to you for your effective tenure, and
your successor, Governor Ashcroft.
I also ask you to join me in honoring another governor among
us today, someone who stood his ground through a time of
turbulence and tragedy, a great governor and a true leader
...
Carroll Campbell of South Carolina.
( (Finally, I also want to recognize a former chairman of
Gay Hibds
this association, and my chief of staff, John Sununu. \\ John,
did you hear of the boy in the spelling bee who was asked if he
could spell your last name? The boy said he could spell
offor SJAPH CTN & 1400 work ax may
"Sununu," but he just wasn't sure when to stop. ))\\
( (By the way, did you hear that ABC is going to air a made-
for-T.V. movie entitled: "George Bush, the War Years"? You can
pretty much guess what this movie will be about. It'll be about
the time I had to bail out. And to think, Terry Branstad, that
there are actually people out there who would want to see a movie
about the Iowa primary. caucus
\\\\))
As you know, I am not an alumnus of your organization. But
over the years, as I worked with the governors, I have come to
fully appreciate the responsibility you are shouldering, and the
leadership you provide.
2
But of course, there are times when federalism seems to be a
mixed blessing. It is not possible for a governor to shy away
from the hard decisions. You are responsible, as am I. You are
forced to confront the gritty problems, as am I. Some describe
this responsibility as a great burden. But as I said before, for
us, if it is a burden, it is one we cheerfully accept. To sit
where the buck stops, to resolve disputes, to help those in need
and to set a course for the future is to know a special kind of
satisfaction.
For that reason I believe we can, we must, as chief
executives take responsibility, join forces, and make a common
cause of building a better America.
That is why we came together at Charlottesville, at an
historic summit, only the third of its kind in our history. We
came together, with your Democratic counterparts, in open, wide-
ranging and creative sessions to seek a new direction in
education. In the end, we agreed to an historic compact -- a
Jeffersonian compact -- to set national goals; to allow for
greater flexibility, more creativity; and then to be accountable
for the results.
We could achieve this, because at Charlottesville we put
progress before partisanship, the future before the moment and
our children before ourselves. America simply faces too many of
these long-term challenges for us to act only as Republicans or
Democrats, conservatives or liberals. We must work together to
redeem our schools. We must work together to save our children
3
from drugs. We must work together to protect the environment and
meet the changing needs of the American family.
Still, this does not mean that there is no time and place
for partisanship. There is a Republican approach to the
challenges we face. And we have proven, time and again, that the
Republican approach is the best approach. 11
I consider this a matter of record, a record that includes
eighty-three months of economic growth and more than twenty
million new jobs. A few years ago, when our opponents said
that a tax cut would hurt the economy, we cut taxes -- and it did
the opposite. When our opponents said that a stronger defense
would make the Soviets more militant, we revitalized our armed
forces -- and the Soviets met us at the negotiating table. In
short, whatever has worked at the federal level happened only
because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress joined
forces to make it work.
So the bottom line is this -- throughout the 1980s, the
Republican Party has been the party of ideas. This is no ess
true at the state level. Who is implementing alternative teacher
certification? Our Republican governors. Who enacted the first
child-care programs based on the principle of choice? Out
Republican governors. Who is leading the way to welfare reform?
Or to protect our wetlands and environment? Again, it is you.
While Republicans lead the way, where is the opposition?
Answer: in the throes of an identity crisis. After the longest
peacetime expansion in history, the Democrats can't quite bring
4
themselves to admit that Republicans were right. Nor do they
have a new vision of where America should be going All they can
do is cloak their out-of-step ideas in the language of
moderation.
I don't often quote Franklin Delano ROOsevelt on partisan
matters. But the little story he told to make fun of his
Republican opponents fits the liberal Democrats so well today.
It is the story of the "unfortunate chameleon which turned brown
when placed on a brown rug, and turned red when placed on a red
rug, but who died a tragic death when they put him on a Scotch
Plaid. "\\
This is precisely what we must do in the 1990 election -- to
Keep the focus on the issues, and expose the true colors of the
chameleon candidates. For the national and state elections of
the 1990s will not just be a battle of the century; it will be a
battle for the century -- the 21st century.
We have proven, time ard again, that can keep the
it House. But t wha majorit, C. governo h: S, state
offices and seats in Congress, we must roll up our sleeves and
get down to the basics of winning elections. We must be more
we must repledge ourselveres
competitive; for when it comes to the nuts and bolts of politics, the grasspoots
as our apponents d
our opponents are the master mechanics of all time ?
As we look to the upcoming elections, we have three
obtainable goals. First, to move toward our rightful place as
the majority party of governors. As federalism has enhanced
your role, so the control of the governorships has become one of
5
the most critical national goals of our party. Our second goal
is to recapture the U.S. Senate. And third, we must open the
House of Representatives to two-party competition.\ But the key
to all three goals is the first -- to elect more Republican
governors.
It's no coincidence that our party slipped to minority
status in the House as we became a minority in state government.
It's no coincidence that the House majority remains in force
today. The Founding Fathers intended the House of
Representatives to be the most sensitive barometer of the
changing needs of the American people. Instead, whole
generations have never known what it means to experience a change
in party control of the House.
Let me tell you about my son Neil, as a way to illustrate
the seemingly unending nature of the Democratic majority. Neil
is thirty-four years old. Neil was born on January, 22, 1955,
three weeks after the last Republican Speaker turned the gavel
over to a Democrat. Not one time in his life has Neil seen the
leadership of the House of Representatives change parties. Not
one time. Just like Neil, there are millions of men and women
across America in their twenties and thirties who have never
known true two-party competition in the House.
Will the House remain static for another thirty-four years?
Yes, but only if Republicans passively accept it. Today,
Democrats now have a redistricting advantage in states that
6
compose about 90 percent of the seats in Congress. This must not
continue. \\
You know how the ugly gerrymander dilutes the votes of
Republicans and Independents across this country. We have
protested this in the past; but now it is time for us to raise
our voices, to become true activists. As Republican leaders, you
can take our message to voters of your states. You must declare
that this form of voter discrimination must end.
To lead America in the next century, we must make aggressive
gains at the state level in the next few years. A majority, or
even a large minority, of Republicans in state legislatures can
join with you to sustain the veto of outrageous gerrymander
schemes, strengthening our numbers in the U.S. House. Strong
state parties can also help us to win back the U.S. Senate.
But we have far greater reasons than reapportionment to
pursue the governorships of America. America faces tough
problems that require more than federal solutions. They require
national solutions. And solutions are now possible because the
states are embracing a new dynamism based on an old vision.
The great Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis foresaw a
time when: "a single courageous state
may serve as a
laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without
risk to the nation." ( (To borrow a phrase)) The states are
becoming these "laboratories of democracy," with each state
endowed with freedom -- freedom to fail, freedom to succeed, and
freedom to discover and share its discoveries.
7
In an era of tight resources, necessity, the mother of
invention, has also proven to be the mother of creative policies.
You are following the advice of Teddy Roosevelt, a great
Republican governor who said that our national greatness "is not
what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in
which we use it."
Dozens of states are experimenting with ways to remove
obstacles to opportunity, and to bring the creative energy of
entrepreneurship to the public sector. Some of your experiments
are certain to become the national policies of the next century.
The states are at the forefront because the first instinct
of our governors is not to look to Washington, but to the
combined strength of the public and the private sector. Much has
been written about how governors in both parties are rejecting
the old ideologies and stale approaches of the past. Credit
should be given where it is due. But I have to say, while
Democrats have been adept at promoting new programs that attract
a lot of fanfare, the Republicans governors have quietly
distinguished themselves with programs that work.
The people know this. And come November, 1990, I believe
the voters will choose innovation and daring for their state
government. They will vote Republican.
But to win big, you must think big. We must have the
audacity -- not just to hold our own in the Senate, but to win it
back. We must have the tenacity -- not just to elect more
Members of Congress, but to reach for the Speaker's Chair. And
8
we must have the daring to seize the majority position among
governors.
Republican governors are already thinking big, thinking
ahead. You are the planners and the prophets, the managers and
the visionaries, the dreamers and the doers. You are the ones I
look to join me, in a partnership, to win the future.
So this is our vision: We are going to be the party that
leads the states. We are going to be the party that leads
Congress. Then we will be the party that leads America into the
21st Century. 11
Thank you, God bless you and God bless America.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 13,1989
V
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
Box
FROM:
BRENT O. HATCH
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Presidential Address: Republican Governors
Association, Tuesday, October 17, 1989
Counsel's office has reviewed the President's address. We have
no legal objections.
Thank you for submitting this matter for our review.
CC: James W. Cicconi
11 :Sd EI 100 68
081213SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
10/12/89
FRIDAY, OCT. 13, 4:00 pm
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1989
SUBJECT:
(draft: one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
CARD
CICCONI
>
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
WRAY
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Room 122, x2930, no later than 4:00 p.m.,
Friday, October 13, with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
See comments
01 :td €100.68 EI 100 68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Oct. 10, 1989
Title: Governors
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOC.,
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m.
Thank you Chairman Hayden for that gracious introduction.
1989 OCT i2 PM 040 07
My congratulations go to you for your effective tenure, and
your successor, Governor Ashcroft.
I also ask you to join me in honoring another governor among
us today, someone who stood his ground through a time of
turbulence and tragedy, a great governor and a true leader
Carroll Campbell of South Carolina.
((Finally, I also want to recognize a former chairman of
this association, and my chief of staff, John Sununu. John,
did you hear of the boy in the spelling bee who was asked if he
could spell your last name? The boy said he could spell
"Sununu," but he just wasn't sure when to stop. ))\\
((By the way, did you hear that ABC is going to air a made-
for-T.V. movie entitled: "George Bush, the War Years"? You can
pretty much guess what this movie will be about. It'll be about
the time I had to bail out. And to think, Terry Branstad, that
there are actually people out there who would want to see a movie
about the Iowa primary. ||\\))
As you know, I am not an alumnus of your organization. But
over the years, as I worked with the governors, I have come to
fully appreciate the responsibility you are shouldering, and the
leadership you provide.
2
But of course, there are times when federalism seems to be a
mixed blessing. It is not possible for a governor to shy away
from the hard decisions. You are responsible, as am I. You are
forced to confront the gritty problems, as am I. Some describe
this responsibility as a great burden. But as I said before, for
us, if it is a burden, it is one we cheerfully accept. To sit
where the buck stops, to resolve disputes, to help those in need
and to set a course for the future is to know a special kind of
satisfaction.
For that reason I believe we can, we must, as chief
executives take responsibility, join forces, and make a common
cause of building a better America.
That is why we came together at Charlottesville, at an
historic summit, only the third of its kind in our history. We
came together, with your Democratic counterparts, in open, wide-
ranging and creative sessions to seek a new direction in
education. In the end, we agreed to an historic compact -- a
Jeffersonian compact -- to set national goals; to allow for
greater flexibility, more creativity; and then to be accountable
for the results.
We could achieve this, because at Charlottesville we put
progress before partisanship, the future before the moment and
our children before ourselves. America simply faces too many of
these long-term challenges for us to act only as Republicans or
Democrats, conservatives or liberals. We must work together to
redeem our schools. We must work together to save our children
3
from drugs. We must work together to protect the environment and
meet the changing needs of the American family.
Still, this does not mean that there is no time and place
for partisanship. There is a Republican approach to the
challenges we face. And we have proven, time and again, that the
Republican approach is the best approach.
I consider this a matter of record, a record that includes
eighty-three months of economic growth and more than twenty
million new jobs. A few years ago, when our opponents said
that a tax cut would hurt the economy, we cut taxes -- and it did
the opposite. When our opponents said that a stronger defense
would make the Soviets more militant, we revitalized our armed
forces -- and the Soviets met us at the negotiating table. In
short, whatever has worked at the federal level happened only
because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress joined
forces to make it work.
So the bottom line is this -- throughout the 1980s, the
Republican Party has been the party of ideas. This is no ess
true at the state level. Who is implementing alternative teacher
certification? Our Republican governors.
Who enacted the first
child-care programs based on the principle of choice?
Out
Republican governors. Who is leading the way to welfare reform?
Halen 5178
Or to protect our wetlands and environment? Again, it is you.
While Republicans lead the way, where is the opposition?
Answer: in the throes of an identity crisis. After the longest
peacetime expansion in history, the Democrats can't quite bring
can't verify statement - - no state to our knowledge has a
tay credit similar to the Administration's propased
child tax
4
themselves to admit that Republicans were right. Nor do they
have a new vision of where America should be going All they can
do is cloak their out-of-step ideas in the language of
moderation.
I don't often quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt on partisan
matters. But the little story he told to make fun of his
Republican opponents fits the liberal Democrats SO well today.
It is the story of the "unfortunate chameleon which turned brown
when placed on a brown rug, and turned red when placed on a red
rug, but who died a tragic death when they put him on a Scotch
Plaid. "\\
This is precisely what we must do in the 1990 election -- to
keep the focus on the issues, and expose the true colors of the
chameleon candidates. For the national and state elections of
the 1990s will not just be a battle of the century; it will be a
battle for the century -- the 21st century.
We have proven, time and again, that PARTI can keep the
it. House. But τ wha mayority C : governo h: S, state
offices and seats in Congress, we must roll up our sleeves and
get down to the basics of winning elections. We must be more
competitive, for when it comes to the nuts and bolts of politics,
our opponents are the master mechanics of all time.
As we look to the upcoming elections, we have three
obtainable goals. First, to move toward our rightful place as
the majority party of governors. As federalism has enhanced
your role, SO the control of the governorships has become one of
5
the most critical national goals of our party. Our second goal
is to recapture the U.S. Senate. And third, we must open the
House of Representatives to two-party competition.\ But the key
to all three goals is the first -- to elect more Republican
governors.
It's no coincidence that our party slipped to minority
status in the House as we became a minority in state government.
It's no coincidence that the House majority remains in force
today. The Founding Fathers intended the House of
Representatives to be the most sensitive barometer of the
changing needs of the American people. Instead, whole
generations have never known what it means to experience a change
in party control of the House.
Let me tell you about my son Neil, as a way to illustrate
the seemingly unending nature of the Democratic majority. Neil
is thirty-four years old. Neil was born on January, 22, 1955,
three weeks after the last Republican Speaker turned the gavel
over to a Democrat. Not one time in his life has Neil seen the
leadership of the House of Representatives change parties. Not
one time. Just like Neil, there are millions of men and women
across America in their twenties and thirties who have never
known true two-party competition in the House.
Will the House remain static for another thirty-four years?
Yes, but only if Republicans passively accept it. Today,
Democrats now have a redistricting advantage in states that
6
compose about 90 percent of the seats in Congress. This must not
continue. 11
You know how the ugly gerrymander dilutes the votes of
Republicans and Independents across this country. We have
protested this in the past; but now it is time for us to raise
our voices, to become true activists. As Republican leaders, you
can take our message to voters of your states. You must declare
that this form of voter discrimination must end.
To lead America in the next century, we must make aggressive
gains at the state level in the next few years. A majority, or
even a large minority, of Republicans in state legislatures can
join with you to sustain the veto of outrageous gerrymander
schemes, strengthening our numbers in the U.S. House. Strong
state parties can also help us to win back the U.S. Senate.
But we have far greater reasons than reapportionment to
pursue the governorships of America. America faces tough
problems that require more than federal solutions. They require
national solutions. And solutions are now possible because the
states are embracing a new dynamism based on an old vision.
The great Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis foresaw a
time when: "a single courageous state
may serve as a
laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without
risk to the nation." ( (To borrow a phrase)) The states are
becoming these "laboratories of democracy," with each state
endowed with freedom -- freedom to fail, freedom to succeed, and
freedom to discover and share its discoveries.
7
In an era of tight resources, necessity, the mother of
invention, has also proven to be the mother of creative policies.
You are following the advice of Teddy Roosevelt, a great
Republican governor who said that our national greatness "is not
what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in
which we use it."
Dozens of states are experimenting with ways to remove
obstacles to opportunity, and to bring the creative energy of
entrepreneurship to the public sector. Some of your experiments
are certain to become the national policies of the next century.
The states are at the forefront because the first instinct
of our governors is not to look to Washington, but to the
combined strength of the public and the private sector. Much has
been written about how governors in both parties are rejecting
the old ideologies and stale approaches of the past. Credit
should be given where it is due. But I have to say, while
Democrats have been adept at promoting new programs that a "tract
a lot of fanfare, the Republicans governors have quietly
distinguished themselves with programs that work.
The people know this. And come November, 1990, I believe
the voters will choose innovation and daring for their state
government. They will vote Republican.
But to win big, you must think big. We must have the
audacity -- not just to hold our own in the Senate, but to win it
back. We must have the tenacity -- not just to elect more
Members of Congress, but to reach for the Speaker's Chair. And
8
we must have the daring to seize the majority position among
governors.
Republican governors are already thinking big, thinking
ahead. You are the planners and the prophets, the managers and
the visionaries, the dreamers and the doers. You are the ones I
look to join me, in a partnership, to win the future.
So this is our vision: We are going to be the party that
leads the states. We are going to be the party that leads
Congress. Then we will be the party that leads America into the
21st Century.
Thank you, God bless you and God bless America.
#
#
#
081213SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
10/12/89
FRIDAY, OCT. 13, 4:00 pm
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1989
SUBJECT:
(draft: one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
WRAY
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Room 122, x2930, no later than 4:00 p.m.,
Friday, October 13, with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Commutry
91 :t 150 68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Document No. 081213SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
10/12/89
FRIDAY, OCT. 13, 4:00 pm
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1989
SUBJECT:
(draft: one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
CARD
>
WINSTON
CICCONI
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
WRAY
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Room 122, x2930, no later than 4:00 p.m.,
Friday, October 13, with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
S.R OK.
SI : 1d EI 130 68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Oct. 10, 1989
Title: Governors
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOC.,
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m.
Thank you Chairman Hayden for that gracious introduction.
1989 OCT i2 PM 04 07
My congratulations go to you for your effective tenure, and
your successor, Governor Ashcroft.
I also ask you to join me in honoring another governor among
us today, someone who stood his ground through a time of
turbulence and tragedy, a great governor and a true leader
Carroll Campbell of South Carolina. 11
((Finally, I also want to recognize a former chairman of
this association, and my chief of staff, John Sununu. John,
did you hear of the boy in the spelling bee who was asked if he
could spell your last name? The boy said he could spell
"Sununu," but he just wasn't sure when to stop. ))\\
((By the way, did you hear that ABC is going to air a made-
for-T.V. movie entitled: "George Bush, the War Years"?\\ You can
pretty much guess what this movie will be about. It'll be about
the time I had to bail out. And to think, Terry Branstad, that
there are actually people out there who would want to see a movie
about the Iowa primary. \\\\))
As you know, I am not an alumnus of your organization. But
over the years, as I worked with the governors, I have come to
fully appreciate the responsibility you are shouldering, and the
leadership you provide.
2
But of course, there are times when federalism seems to be a
mixed blessing. It is not possible for a governor to shy away
from the hard decisions. You are responsible, as am I. You are
forced to confront the gritty problems, as am I. Some describe
this responsibility as a great burden. But as I said before, for
us, if it is a burden, it is one we cheerfully accept. To sit
where the buck stops, to resolve disputes, to help those in need
and to set a course for the future is to know a special kind of
satisfaction.
For that reason I believe we can, we must, as chief
executives take responsibility, join forces, and make a common
cause of building a better America.
That is why we came together at Charlottesville, at an
historic summit, only the third of its kind in our history. We
came together, with your Democratic counterparts, in open, wide-
ranging and creative sessions to seek a new direction in
education. In the end, we agreed to an historic compact -- a
Jeffersonian compact -- to set national goals; to allow for
greater flexibility, more creativity; and then to be accountable
for the results.
We could achieve this, because at Charlottesville we put
progress before partisanship, the future before the moment and
our children before ourselves. America simply faces too many of
these long-term challenges for us to act only as Republicans or
Democrats, conservatives or liberals. We must work together to
redeem our schools. We must work together to save our children
3
from drugs. We must work together to protect the environment and
meet the changing needs of the American family.
Still, this does not mean that there is no time and place
for partisanship. There is a Republican approach to the
challenges we face. And we have proven, time and again, that the
Republican approach is the best approach.
I consider this a matter of record, a record that includes
eighty-three months of economic growth and more than twenty
million new jobs. A few years ago, when our opponents said
that a tax cut would hurt the economy, we cut taxes -- and it did
the opposite. When our opponents said that a stronger defense
would make the Soviets more militant, we revitalized our armed
forces -- and the Soviets met us at the negotiating table. In
short, whatever has worked at the federal level happened only
because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress joined
forces to make it work.
So the bottom line is this -- throughout the 1980s, the
Republican Party has been the party of ideas. This is no ess
true at the state level. Who is implementing alternative teacher
certification? Our Republican governors. Who enacted the first
child-care programs based on the principle of choice? Out
Republican governors. Who is leading the way to welfare reform?
Or to protect our wetlands and environment? Again, it is you.
While Republicans lead the way, where is the opposition?
Answer: in the throes of an identity crisis. After the longest
peacetime expansion in history, the Democrats can't quite bring
4
themselves to admit that Republicans were right. Nor do they
have a new vision of where America should be go_ng All they can
do is cloak their out-of-step ideas in the language of
moderation.
I don't often quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt on partisan
matters. But the little story he told to make fun of his
Republican opponents fits the liberal Democrats SO well today.
It is the story of the "unfortunate chameleon which turned brown
when placed on a brown rug, and turned red when placed on a red
rug, but who died a tragic death when they put him on a Scotch
Plaid. "\\
This is precisely what we must do in the 1990 election -- to
keep the focus on the issues, and expose the true colors of the
chameleon candidates. For the national and state elections of
the 1990s will not just be a battle of the century; it will be a
battle for the century -- the 21st century.
We have proven, time and again, that with can keep the
it. House. But τ W a a majorit, 0 : governo h: S, state
offices and seats in Congress, we must roll up our sleeves and
get down to the basics of winning elections. We must be more
competitive, for when it comes to the nuts and bolts of politics,
our opponents are the master mechanics of all time.
As we look to the upcoming elections, we have three
obtainable goals. First, to move toward our rightful place as
the majority party of governors. As federalism has enhanced
your role, SO the control of the governorships has become one of
5
the most critical national goals of our party. Our second goal
is to recapture the U.S. Senate. And third, we must open the
House of Representatives to two-party competition. But the key
to all three goals is the first -- to elect more Republican
governors.
It's no coincidence that our party slipped to minority
status in the House as we became a minority in state government.
It's no coincidence that the House majority remains in force
today. The Founding Fathers intended the House of
Representatives to be the most sensitive barometer of the
changing needs of the American people. Instead, whole
generations have never known what it means to experience a change
in party control of the House.
Let me tell you about my son Neil, as a way to illustrate
the seemingly unending nature of the Democratic majority. Neil
is thirty-four years old. Neil was born on January, 22, 1955,
three weeks after the last Republican Speaker turned the gavel
over to a Democrat. Not one time in his life has Neil seen the
leadership of the House of Representatives change parties. Not
one time. Just like Neil, there are millions of men and women
across America in their twenties and thirties who have never
known true two-party competition in the House.
Will the House remain static for another thirty-four years?
Yes, but only if Republicans passively accept it. Today,
Democrats now have a redistricting advantage in states that
6
compose about 90 percent of the seats in Congress. This must not
continue
You know how the ugly gerrymander dilutes the votes of
Republicans and Independents across this country. We have
protested this in the past; but now it is time for us to raise
our voices, to become true activists. As Republican leaders, you
can take our message to voters of your states. You must declare
that this form of voter discrimination must end. \\
To lead America in the next century, we must make aggressive
gains at the state level in the next few years. A majority, or
even a large minority, of Republicans in state legislatures can
join with you to sustain the veto of outrageous gerrymander
schemes, strengthening our numbers in the U.S. House. Strong
state parties can also help us to win back the U.S. Senate.
But we have far greater reasons than reapportionment to
pursue the governorships of America. America faces tough
problems that require more than federal solutions. They require
national solutions. And solutions are now possible because the
states are embracing a new dynamism based on an old vision.
The great Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis foresaw a
time when: "a single courageous state
may serve as a
laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without
risk to the nation." ( (To borrow a phrase) ) The states are
becoming these "laboratories of democracy," with each state
endowed with freedom -- freedom to fail, freedom to succeed, and
freedom to discover and share its discoveries.
7
In an era of tight resources, necessity, the mother of
invention, has also proven to be the mother of creative policies.
You are following the advice of Teddy Roosevelt, a great
Republican governor who said that our national greatness "is not
what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in
which we use it."
Dozens of states are experimenting with ways to remove
obstacles to opportunity, and to bring the creative energy of
entrepreneurship to the public sector. Some of your experiments
are certain to become the national policies of the next century.
The states are at the forefront because the first instinct
of our governors is not to look to Washington, but to the
combined strength of the public and the private sector. Much has
been written about how governors in both parties are rejecting
the old ideologies and stale approaches of the past. Credit
should be given where it is due. But I have to say, while
Democrats have been adept at promoting new programs that attract
a lot of fanfare, the Republicans governors have quietly
distinguished themselves with programs that work.
The people know this. And come November, 1990, I believe
the voters will choose innovation and daring for their state
government. They will vote Republican.
But to win big, you must think big. We must have the
audacity -- not just to hold our own in the Senate, but to win it
back. We must have the tenacity -- not just to elect more
Members of Congress, but to reach for the Speaker's Chair. And
8
we must have the daring to seize the majority position among
governors.
Republican governors are already thinking big, thinking
ahead. You are the planners and the prophets, the managers and
the visionaries, the dreamers and the doers. You are the ones I
look to join me, in a partnership, to win the future.
So this is our vision: We are going to be the party that
leads the states. We are going to be the party that leads
Congress. Then we will be the party that leads America into the
21st Century. 11
Thank you, God bless you and God bless America.
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