< PREVIOUS ] [ 1991 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
State employees in Montana went on strike last week, claiming that they need more money. For instance, the caseworkers who handle food stamps are paid so little that they also qualify for food stamps.
Not only is this a sterling example of economy in government, but it also means that Montana may have the only decent and humane food-stamp offices in America.
Everywhere else, caseworkers are people with college degrees in sociology. They get paid a comfortable wage, and enjoy ample fringe benefits -- lots of paid holidays, health insurance, retirement funds, etc. Thus the caseworkers feel quite superior to the folks who can't buy groceries without some help. So what if clients have to wait in line while the caseworker takes a two-hour lunch, or if paperwork gets delayed for a few weeks? Why should the caseworker care? They're just impoverished rabble.
But in Montana, the caseworker must be courteous and efficient. He's part of the population he serves. Extend that, and there are many ways that government and public administration could be improved.
John Sununu is chief of staff at the White House. In essence, he decides what President Bush will act on. Suppose a proposal to improve U.S. transportation appears.
Sununu will wonder how anybody could possibly complain about such a wonderful system. After all, John Sununu never has to worry about missing his plane -- it will wait, and even return to Washington if he forgot something on his way to the dentist in Boston. His baggage never goes to Anchorage when he's flying to Aspen. He never sits for four hours with his kneecaps against his teeth in a narrow seat between a jabbering grandmother and a squalling infant. Since his travels to ski resorts are a matter of national interest, he doesn't even have to wonder about how he'll pay for the flight -- that's our problem, not his.
In short, he knows precisely nothing about the true state of U.S. transportation, and yet he makes decisions -- unlike the Montana caseworker who knows exactly what happens to people who apply for food stamps.
Outside of Montana, what does Federico Peña know about public housing in Denver? Might his knowledge improve if the mayor lived in a 600-square-foot apartment in the projects? Would the housing improve, too?
What of teachers who won't send their kids to the schools they teach in? The school is good enough for your kids, but not good enough for theirs, just as being herded through an airport to an overbooked flight is good enough for you, but not good enough for John Sununu.
If the people who make decisions can evade the consequences of those decisions, then they aren't responsible. Montana has the right idea for an efficient, humane, accountable government, and maybe it will spread, despite the strike.
< PREVIOUS ] [ 1991 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >