Best and Worst Run States

The Best and Worst Run States

I recently saw an article on MSN Money concerning the best and worst run states as rated by 24/7 Wall Street using the following criteria:

To determine how well the states are run, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed hundreds of data sets from dozens of sources, looking at each state's debt, revenue, expenditures and deficit to determine how well it was managed fiscally. We reviewed taxes, exports and GDP growth, including a breakdown by sector, to identify how each state was managing its resources. And we looked at poverty, income, unemployment, high school graduation, violent crime and foreclosure rates to assess the well-being of the state's residents.

Their results were as follows:

Best Run States

1. North Dakota
2. Wyoming
3. Iowa
4. Nebraska
5. Utah

Worst Run States

1. California
2. New Mexico
3. Illinois
4. Rhode Island
5. Nevada

Curious about Politics, I looked it up:

 

Best Run

1. North Dakota
Gov: R
Lt Gov: R
House: R71/D23
Senate: R33/D14

2. Wyoming
Gov: R
Lt Gov: R
House: R52/D8
Senate: R26/D4

3.Iowa
Gov: R
Lt Gov: R
House: R23/D26
Senate: R53/D47

4.Nebraska
Gov: R
Lt Gov: I
Legislature: Unicameral
Representatives Party Affiliation: R30/D18/I1

5. Utah
Gov: R
Lt Gov: R
House: R61/D14
Senate: R24/D5

Worst Run

1. California
Gov: D
Lt Gov: D
Assembly: D53/R25
Senate: D28/R13

2. New Mexico
Gov: R
Lt Gov: R
House: D37/R33
Senate: D25/R17

3. Illinois
Gov: D
Lt Gov: D
House: D71/R47
Senate: D40/R19

4. Rhode Island
Gov: D
Lt Gov: D
House: D69/R6
Senate: D32/R5/I1

5. Nevada
Gov: R
Lt Gov: R
Assembly: D27/R15
Senate: D11/R10

What I noticed

The best run states were uniformly Republican in Governors and Legislatures.

The worst run states with a mix of Governors, had legislatures that were uniformly Democrat.

Coincidence?

I found it curious that the article cited completely ignored politics not in their assessment, but in discussion of its outcome.