GOP Gov. Craig Benson lost here to a previously unknown Democrat who pounded him incessantly on his integrity. (Benson's administration had constant bad publicity from ethically challenged appointees.) Benson was probably the most serious government reformer in office in the country, and he's now been replaced by a Democrat who has pledged to veto a sales or income tax, but who has refused to say what he personally thinks about either one — and who won big with state employees whose jobs Benson's reform efforts had threatened.
