Conservatives regularly cite transparency and efficiency as goals to make government smaller and better. Too often, though, said conservatives do not deliver on these goals.
New conservative leadership in Mississippi may be about to change that.
In an op-ed piece, incoming Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said he is taking steps to deliver on a campaign promise to increase transparency at the state capitol.
"In partnership with the Legislative Budget Office and Mississippi Public Broadcasting, we are working on piloting a program on the Senate side to webcast committee meetings in addition to floor debate," Hosemann wrote.
Hmmm.
One might hope that committee chairmen, knowing their meetings will be televised, will hold real committee meetings on important bills rather than the farcical gatherings under the outgoing administration. That's when committee chairmen would walk in, say here's the bill, and call for a vote with no amendments or serious discussion.
You see transparency only works to improve government when citizens are able to see government at work, not when all is decided in the backroom in advance.
Kudos to Hosemann for his leadership on this.
In another op-ed piece, State Treasurer Shad White and Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration executive director Laura Jackson said it is time to consolidate backroom functions in government.
They want an Office of Shared Services to become law next year and focus on consolidating backroom functions for many of the smaller state agencies.
"The problem is that it can be inefficient for many of these entities to have their own independent, backroom offices," they wrote saying many of the state's 204 agencies, boards, and commissions house their own accounting departments, human resource services, information technology departments, payroll and travel services, and a host of other “backroom” subdivisions.
White and Jackson said that implementing a shared services would save taxpayers money, improve services, and lower the likelihood of fraud and theft. "Implementing a shared services arrangement would mean added oversight for these smaller boards since their administrative functions would all be housed under the same roof. Instead of monitoring 80 different boards or commissions, we might now only need to monitor 20."
Hmmm.
One might hope that recommendations from the state's top two financial control officials would move the needle on government efficiency. Yet, as we have learned from past efforts, many small agencies operate as little fiefdoms and have powerful godfathers to protect them in the legislature. Even Gov. Phil Bryant admitted he underestimated these agencies' "political support system."
That came after his call to terminate or consolidate many of these same boards and commissions was ignored. As was his call to consolidate "non-educational duties" in school districts. As was Gov. Haley Barbour's call to consolidate backroom functions for community and junior colleges. And so on.
You see, it's much easier to strangle government as a whole through budget cuts than it is to prune government through thoughtful reorganization. The problem with that, of course, is that you strangle the good and necessary along with the bad and unnecessary.
Kudos to White and Jackson for their leadership on this. As the Greenwood Commonwealth commented, "It just makes good business sense."
A New Year's hope is that other government officials and key legislators will get on board with Hosemann, White, and Jackson and finally deliver on transparency and prudent efficiency.
“Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square” — Proverbs 1:20.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Meridian.
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Bill Crawford: New Hope for Transparency & Efficiency in Government?
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6 comments:
Shad White is State auditor, not treasurer.
I strongly support Hoseman and White in this effort.
The trick will be to imagine in advance any potential " loopholes" that will allow the fiefdoms to create powerful shadow organizations much as the Junior College Presidents did when the Board for Junior Colleges was re-created to be appointed rather than made up of the Junior College Presidents. And, the creation language did not allow the new Board actual oversight . They were quickly told they were an " advocacy" board instead.
Government corruption ( indeed in any organizational structure) happens when shadow organizations convince officials in authority that they have more power to deliver or prevent 1) votes in elections through organized campaigns to help or smear 2) financial or job security or 3) personal safety and even family safety( see Mexico).
Organizational controls can be incorporated into laws and regulations,but not when the public is too naïve to understand that they benefit from whatever small inconveniences those controls cause the honest person.
One bad apple can indeed spoil an entire barrel. The trick is to make sure it can't find a way into the barrel.
Don't know what is worse, another Crawford column or the disjointed comment @10:01.
Bill, as you express your love affair with Hosemann, (probably earned because of your total dislike of Reeves) you should realize that his public op-ed belies his reality. Watch how he handles his committees to see if broadcasting their meetings accomplishes anything. He has already 'declared' that he intends to run the two money committees (appropriate and finance) although since he is not a Senator he can't be the 'chairman'. How do you think the broadcast of those committees will be since the LG intends to run them? Any different than before?
And as to Auditor (not Treasurer) White'a suggestion - check on your pretty boy's response to White on his legislative proposals for 2020 of which this was one.
If you would do any investigation of your pretty boy before you hmmmmm yourself into his kingdom, you would find that since this nitiative from White and Jackson didn't come from the reigning monarch himself, he tossed it aside, rejecting it (along with all the others) without discussion.
Perhaps the adults in the House and Senate will force the brat in the governor's office to actually do something for Mississippians instead of his campaign fund.
Shared services is a no-brainer, and the state could negotiate much better purchasing contracts if agencies were more strategic in their thinking. My company went to a shared services model over 20 years ago and found economic efficiencies as well as better compliance with corporate policies.
Mississippi's government is too complicated with too many boards and agencies. Consolidation and technology should be the watch words to Reeves and Hosemann. For example, MDOT, PSC and MHP all work the highways...for different reasons. But MHP won't let PSC or MDOT do speed enforcement probably because of some stupid reason that would infuriate taxpayers. The department of revenue and gaming commission both audit casinos - why, because of a pissing contest over 20 years ago...and there are probably dozens of other examples of mission overlap and missed opportunities to increase efficiency. Consolidate the mission, offices and personnel of similarly missioned agencies, and taxpayers will see huge savings and state employee turnover will be reduced. From the technology standpoint, the state should seek enterprise solutions for things like records management systems, case management systems, licensing applications, etc.
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