so it's an honor to have with us governor dirk kempthorn. [applause] four former governors who have worked in the federal branch of government here, and we -- as governors -- just finished recently giving our state of the state addresses and talking about what has taken place and recognizing successes and challenges and looking to the visions of the future. so i'm going to pose the question and get us started here of asking you as our panel the question, what is the state of our state/federal relationships? and what do you see today, and what do you see as a way for us to go forward and improve them? and so we'll start with senator lamar alexander, and we'll just kind of go down the list here. .. which creates a unique opportunity and ea, ast, governors, everybody really got fed up with the idea of washington telling everybody what to do. you improved relationships. second thing we can do to prove it better. number one, implement the law. it's not worth the paper it written on. the marketplace fairness act and how could she make it better. l

it's my opportunity and privilege to introduce governor dirk kempthorn. so it's probably befitting me because we refer to idaho as northern utah anyway. so governor, we're honored to have you here. president and ceo of the american council of life insurers. he started his public service as a mayor in boise, idaho. comes from local government, which i have a great affection for. elected to the senate in 1993 where he authored the unfunded mandates reform act. after one term in the senate, he returned to idaho to run for governor. was elected there. in 2006, he was appointed secretary of the interior by president george w. bush where he served with great distinction. it's honor to have with us governor dirk kempthorn. [ applause ] four former governors who have worked in the federal branch of government ors finished giving r state of the state addresses and talking about what has taken place and recognizing successes and challenges and looking to the visions of the future. so i'm going to pose the question and get us started here of asking you, as our panel