Freudenthal says he's pleased with Wyo.'s progress

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Gov. Dave Freudenthal has joked for years at his press conferences that he's committed to "truth, beauty, justice and the American way." And every time he's said it, he's rebuked reporters for failing to write it up.

On Thursday, at the last scheduled press conference of his eight years in office, Freudenthal gave his old joke one last run. Yet with only a few weeks left to serve, he largely resisted speaking about what he sees as his accomplishments in office.

"I keep telling people, 'I ain't dead,'" Freudenthal said. "I'm quite frankly quite proud of the last eight years. But there are lots of people who participated in it."

Freudenthal, a Democrat, has had the good fortune to serve as governor during flush times in Wyoming. For most of his tenure, the state's energy industry has been booming.

The state's Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, which holds tax revenue from mineral production, rose from about $2 billion when Freudenthal took office in early 2003 up to roughly $4.7 billion today. And the state has billions more tucked into other funds.

In addition to squirreling away money during Freudenthal's tenure, Wyoming also has undertaken a massive school construction program and put hundreds of millions into permanent endowments such as the Hathaway Scholarship Program — which pays tuition for qualifying students at the University of Wyoming and community colleges — and the state's Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust Fund.

And while other states around the country are facing desperate financial straits, Wyoming remains a fat-and-happy exception.

In South Carolina this week, for example, that state's welfare agency announced it will cut monthly payments to the state's poorest parents by 20 percent as it grapples with its budget deficit.

And in Ohio, Republican Gov.-elect John Kasich said this week he wants to balance that state's budget by eliminating union-scale wages on public construction jobs and revisiting laws that send nonviolent offenders to prison.

Meanwhile, the toughest issue facing the Wyoming Legislature when it convenes next month will be where to park an estimated $1.2 billion in surplus money the state is projected to receive by the end of the budget cycle that runs through June 2012.

Wyoming's contrasting good fortune is almost embarrassing compared to other states.