Arkansas governor praises GOP cooperation

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Republican governors have brought a new era to American politics, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Saturday, contrasting what he termed the partisanship of Democrats in Congress and the White House with the cooperation found in state capitals.

"They have worked across party lines, across racial lines and across ethnic lines to make government work for all their constituents," Huckabee said in the weekly GOP radio address. "Often, Republican governors have worked with Democratic-controlled legislatures to accomplish their goals. That's what the taxpayers want -- concrete accomplishments, not gridlock."

Huckabee said Republicans in Congress also have worked hard to give state governments the flexibility they need, but "unfortunately, their Democratic colleagues and the Clinton administration have not been as willing."

Among the 30 GOP governors, he cited: Texas' George W. Bush -- the party's presidential nominee -- for efforts to improve education in that state; Wisconsin's Tommy Thompson, for actions to revamp the welfare system there, and New Jersey's Christie Whitman, for cutting taxes.

Huckabee, like President Clinton, is a native of Hope, Arkansas, a name often invoked by Clinton during his campaigns.

"The Hope I grew up in," Huckabee told his listeners, "was filled with hard-working people who simply wanted government to allow them to earn more and then do more with the money they earned."

Such people, he said, "understand that families and small businesses -- not government -- are the real engines of economic growth and job creation ... despite what you might have heard in Los Angeles this week" at the Democratic convention.

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