Gov. Inslee Earns “F” Report Card for Mid-Term Performance

The Cato Institute is considered a leading political and economic expert, and they've issued some pretty tough grades for several of the nation's governors.   Founded in 1977 by some of the nation's leading political and economic experts,  they've given Inslee a failing grade.

The annual Fiscal Policy report came out this week, and Inslee was one of 8 state leaders who got an "F".   The criteria used by the Institute is largely financial and economic.

Inslee was given the big fat "F" because of his stance on taxes, broken campaign promises, and attempts to fix transportation issues by proposing enormous gas tax hikes. According to the Institute,  his attempts to extend what were supposed to be "temporary" or sunset taxes (as well as new tax proposals) come to the tune of nearly $1 billion dollars.

The report does give top grades to four state leaders:

"Four governors were awarded an “A” on this report card: Pat McCrory of North Carolina, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Paul LePage of Maine, and Mike Pence of Indiana."

The report ranks Inslee 5th from the bottom,  Jerry Brown of CA is 'tail end charlie'.    While Inslee can take perhaps some comfort in knowing his partner-in-environment John Kitzhaber of Oregon also got an "F",  Oregon's top leader finished two spots ahead of Inslee.

To read the report for yourself,  click here.