Needed: A Reform DECISION, not a Commission

By John Bebow | Published: February 5, 2009

Blessed with the opportunity and widespread support for major reforms, Governor Jennifer Granholm punted this week.

In the governor’s six-plus years in office, commission after commission and study after study have offered detailed approaches to reform the operations of government and provide greater bang for the taxpayers’ buck:

  • A local government commission in 2006 proposed numerous ways to promote service sharing and lower the cost of services. Many of the ideas were not implemented.
  • A panel of veteran, bipartisan budget experts in 2007 offered ways to cut costs and provide greater accountability. Most of their ideas were not implemented.
  • The Center for Michigan last month listed more than $1.5 billion in documented reform possibilities.
  • A bipartisan commission of financiers, lawyers, and budget experts, appointed by House Speaker Andy Dillon and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, is a few weeks away from finishing a two-year quest to root out efficiencies and re-invent state government. The panel’s report should hit legislators’ desks in the heat of the budget battle this spring (Hint: you can expect to hear billions more worth of possible reform choices).

    • The governor mentioned none of those efforts in her state of the state address this week. Instead, she kicked the can down the road. She’s forming yet another commission to study the size and scope of Michigan government.

    “This is no time for special interests or pet projects,” the governor declared. “It’s a time that demands relentless focus and discipline.”

    Focus and discipline can begin with decisions on the reform approaches already well documented and available to the governor rather than the months of delay and political posturing sure to come from a new reform commission headed by a lieutenant governor who clearly has his eyes on the gubernatorial prize in the 2010 election.

    “We must reform our government to meet the needs of our new economic realities long after the stimulus funds are gone,” the governor said in her speech.

    Her budget address next week is one of her last and best chances to show she means it.

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    3 Comments

    1. Greg Rosine
      Posted February 5, 2009 at 10:56 am | Permalink

      Comments are right on. I was hopeful that after the hype preceeding the State of the State, that she was going to present some major overhaul of state government. After 6 years as governor, I would expect that she would know what is important and what is not important in state government. And what do we get, a very cheesy effort to promote the gubernatorial aspirations of her Lt. Governor.

      Amazing.

    2. Chuck Fellows
      Posted February 5, 2009 at 1:03 pm | Permalink

      The Governor did this and the Governor didn’t do that.

      Sounds like a T-ball dispute between parents and the coach.

      There are a lot of very good ideas out there and the Center for Michigan is doing its best to communicate them.

      Where are those who are going to pick up the ball and run with it instead of of whining about how someone else is not doing it.

      We seem to prefer confessing someone elses’s sins instead of doing something about the problem.

      From personal experience:

      Find an entrepreneur who needs counseling to get started or grow their business. (Workin’ on two)

      Volunteer in local government to use your skill sets to improve processes – can be done even when the locals resist, just takes a little longer.
      (They need document control really bad)

      Check out the State Web site and follow legislation that impacts something you are passionate or knowledgeable about. Participate in the process of informing legislators and committeee chairs. (See the article on the new guys in Lansing and help them.) (Education, Health care, environment and Public Safety)

      Dig into the stimulus legislation and see if there is anything you can promote that will help your community. (Need a facility? Got a bad Bridge?)

      Attend local political functions and share your expertise. (they really do need other voices)

      Honestly question everything and expect answers! (Two most important questions: Why? and Why not?)

      Spread the word about the Center for Michigan. (Everywhere. Drop a dime every chance you get)

      Didn’t we just have a leading political figure tell us about responsibility? You know, that characteristic that went missing on Wall Street. Where’s yours?

    3. fred akers
      Posted February 5, 2009 at 7:16 pm | Permalink

      I think someone should set up some of those wind turbines outside the latest commission meetings. At least we would get some free electricity.