Shedding Light on Government Reform
Paul Light was in fine form this morning at an event at the National Academy of Public Administration to promote his new book, A Government Ill Executed.
In the federal sector, he noted, "breakdowns are coming at greater veolcity." And Light is convinced they're going to get worse, in the absence of actions to fix government's ills -- which he pegs, among other issues, as mission creep at agencies, a top-heavy chain of command, and excessive delays in the political confirmation process.
What intrigued me most was Light's suggestion that Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama -- both of whom he characterized as good-government advocates -- ought to team up prior to the election on pieces of legislation aimed at such goals as reducing the number of political appointees and streamlining the appointments process. It would be interesting indeed to see pressure put on the two senators to back measures that would benefit either of them if elected.
What Light said he didn't want to see was another president with a marquee management reform program, like "reinventing government" or the "president's management agenda." I'm crusade-weary as well at this point, but in the absence of these kinds of rallying cries, I wonder if a president would be able to garner any support for a coherent, sustained effort to fix the kind of systemic problems Light has detailed.
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Government Executive Staff Correspondent Alyssa Rosenberg takes a look at news affecting the management and operations of the massive federal bureaucracy.
Light is right, breakdowns are coming at greater speed, especially in this clamjamfry the Bush administration has created! Things like (1) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – what a freaking slap in the face of the multitude of military and law enforcement agencies that existed before DHS! As if those agencies, if properly fixed couldn’t protect the US homeland! Before 9/11 they were broken by the continual slide created by horrible political appointees seeking personal and prior/future company gains, rather than public good. The quiet storm was/is that these agencies were/are mortified at its creation. (2) NSPS – as if somehow those government workers that plan/execute US security are different from other government workers or they’re special. Nothing could be freaking further from the truth! A government worker is a government worker no matter where she/he works! Get this, while creating this security special employee, financial area employees were left to dwindle into obscurity and now we have -one of the largest mortgage crises in the history of the country and - agencies that couldn’t produce a balanced spreadsheet if one was given to them! Remember the RTC, created after the savings and loan scandals of the late 80’s/early 90’s, needing to resolve almost $400B in assets? What will be the new RTC that arises from the mortgage crisis that exists now?
(3) The Patriot Act! – did we all lose our freaking minds back then!!!? US democracy and freedom should be held and kept in the highest esteem. Yet, so many of us agreed to substitute security for liberty. As a result, we gained neither!
(4) Pay for performance! Government is not a stage or a sports arena! It should serve everybody, not be a sideshow for people to look at with glee! It’s not pretty, just there! There are no superstars in government, we all work together!
There’s lots more! …and if we don’t pound a stake in the ground right here and assert this far and no farther, we’ll have a government that continually sucks up taxpayer dollars and serves only itself.
What say we form a committee to have Barack Obama draft John McCain as his running mate?
I agree with you Tom, we need some kind of sustained effort to fix the kind of systemic problems that now exist in government.
FedGuy Posted Wednesday, June 11, 2008 12:05 PMI think that the government, just want the people to see, what they want to see. DHS is only something for the people to see that they got "supposedly" to watching them against terrorist foreign or domestics. If they want this to work they cannot expect to have some kind of "budget" and if they finish the "budget" we cannot perform our duties just because the management says "Their no more money". Come on please, we are here to protect our nation. With this administration I don't know how we survived all this years, they don't care if DHS works or not, just personal profits are to gain for them.
GovExec Reader Posted Friday, August 29, 2008 2:28 PMI think DHS could be a good idea, but as any good idea the need to reorganize, to put people on top positions that know what the employees feels, went thru and expect from their respective agencies so this can work better. No all day behind the desk worker, watching internet all day or a friend of Director or someone of trust that never worked on that related agency, to give ideas to politicians with respect of your employer.