Bill "Recession" Ritter, as disgusted House Republicans now call Colorado's chief executive, managed only a D in the Cato Institute's fiscal policy report card on the nation's governors for 2008. Chris Edwards of Cato said Ritter's spending record was above average, but his grade was pulled down by two recent attempted tax hikes, the school property tax case now before the state Supreme Court and the energy severance proposal defeated by voters this month.
The complaint by a Ritter spokesman that the study wasn't "neutral or unbiased" loses force in light of the well-mixed partisan standings, including a No. 3 ranking given Gov. Joe Manchin, D-WV, and a No. 40 ranking for Gov. Butch Otter, R-ID. Ritter stood 26th out of 46 governors ranked.
A partial list of rankings is here. News story from the Rocky is here. This link shows the full study.