[The following article appears in the August edition of
_Public_Service_Quality_Report_.]
                                    
                       HARD TRUTHS, TOUGH CHOICES

     The National Commission on the State and Local Public
Service, a diverse, 27-person panel chaired by former Mississippi
Gov. William Winter, puts much of the onus (and the promise) for
improving government on the shoulders of a new breed of more
powerful, business-like, problem-solving executive/manager.

     The commission asks changes that it says would move
government away from "an encrusted and outmoded system of command
and control and its rule-bound management that emphasizes
constraints and process at the expense of mission and results.
They would move us to a new way of operating, which is to build
trust and then lead. This trust-and-lead approach requires strong
and positive relationships between the leaders of state and local
governments, public employees, citizens and the many diverse
groups essential to the governmental process."

     "The path to high-performance government based on the
trust-and-lead strategy is clear," the commission states. "Give
leaders the authority to act. Put them in charge of lean,
responsive agencies. Hire and nurture knowledgeable, motivated
employees, and give them the freedom to innovate in accomplishing
the agencies' missions."

     The commission sees five major barriers to more effective
government, and argues for their removal via 10 courses of
action. For example, to remove barriers to executive leadership,
the commission advises consolidating more authority in the hands
of government chief execs, and moving away from the fragmentation
that comes with election of key department heads, commissions,
etc.

     The commission's 10 suggestions, organized under the five
"barrier" themes, are shown here.

REMOVING THE BARRIERS TO STRONGER EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

     1. Strengthen executive authority to act by reducing the
number of independently elected cabinet-level officials.

     2. Temper the fragmentation of government by consolidating
or eliminating as many overlapping or underperforming units as
possible through a "base-closure" approach.

     3. Use the executive budget approach and give state and
local executives more opportunity to have their program
considered as a whole in the legislative process. 

REMOVING THE BARRIERS TO LEAN, RESPONSIVE GOVERNMENT

     4. Flatten the bureaucracy by reducing the number of
management layers between the top and bottom of agencies and
thinning the ranks of the managers who remain.

     5. Deregulate government by (1) reforming the civil service,
including reduced use of veteran's preference and seniority; (2)
streamlining the procurement process; and; (3) making the
budgeting process more flexible. 

REMOVING THE BARRIERS TO A HIGH-PERFORMANCE WORK FORCE

     6. Create a learning government by (1) restoring employee
training and education budgets; (2) creating a new skills package
for all employees; (3) basing pay increases on skills, not time
in position; (4) insisting on a new kind of problem-solving
public manager, not merely a paper passer; and (5) encouraging a
new style of labor-management communication. 

REMOVING THE BARRIERS TO CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

     7. Open the books on government by providing detailed
information on campaign financing and lobbying.

     8. Limit the political fundraising season to the six months
before an election and limit the use of carry-over campaign
funds.

     9. Encourage citizen problem-solving by experimenting with
citizen liaison offices and setting up a national service corps. 

REDUCING FISCAL UNCERTAINTY

     10. Begin to deal with the financing crisis in health care,
with the federal government leading, following or getting out of
the way.

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