How Clinton Ran Arkansas

What kind of Governor has Bill Clinton been? That critical question has often been lost in the frenzy of inquiries about his character, inquiries that frequently produce the next day's tabloid headline but say little if anything about his ability to govern. After running Arkansas for 11 years, Clinton has amassed a rich record that deserves at least as much discussion among voters as anything else in his life.

It is not, however, a record that lends itself to easy summary. As President, Clinton pledges, he would be an agent of "fundamental change," but in Arkansas he has been quite willing to reach cozy accommodations with corporate interests and to work within a regressive tax structure. His priorities have been clear but scarcely uncontroversial; for example, his aides readily concede that he has put job creation ahead of cleaning up the environment. His achievements in improving education have won justified, though a bit excessive, praise. His welfare reforms, on the other hand, while well conceived, have suffered from a lack of follow-through.

In Clinton's defense, it must be said that Arkansas is peculiarly difficult to lead. It has long ranked near the bottom, if not dead last, among all 50 states in most measures of material and social well-being; so many things needed improvement that only Superman could have accomplished them all at once. And the state constitution ensures that no Governor will ever resemble Superman. The chief executive's powers are strictly limited by a weak veto. To get anything positive accomplished, he must win the consent of an often balky legislature and entrenched industries that are frequently intransigent.

These restraints -- and an early defeat for re-election in 1980 after initial liberal reforms had antagonized a number of interests, including the powerful timber and utility industries -- have reinforced Clinton's natural bent toward conciliation and compromise. Critics charge that he has been unwilling to fight hard even for programs that he knows are needed if they encounter strong opposition. Allies say he has shown a shrewd ability to focus on the attainable while avoiding battles he could not win. In any case, his record is a mixture of major accomplishments and severe disappointments. Some specifics:

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. This has perhaps been Clinton's top priority; only education could compete with it. The Governor has engineered a series of tax breaks for business that have totaled $150 million since 1983 (on top of already low taxes on corporations). Most important are provisions that permit manufacturers to claim 7% of their new investments against their sales-tax liabilities and that also exempt some of their equipment purchases from the sales taxes outright. The Governor's aides claim that the concessions have helped spur $8.2 billion of investment in new or expanded plants and have worked mightily to promote a 19% increase in manufacturing jobs.