The Line in Winter: An Academic Assessment of the First Report of the National Commission on the State and Local Public Service

Abstract

Those readers of the first report of the National Commission on the State and Local Public Service, will be surprised if--like the Random House Dictionary of the English Language (Unabridged 2nd edition)--they understand the term to mean employment, the civil service. In Hard Truth/Tough Choices: An Agenda for State and Local Reform, the Winter Commission raises concerns ranging from structural reorganization and fiscal and personnel management reform through calls for campaign finance reform, strategies to enhance citizen involvement in policy making and service delivery, and federal action to deal with the soaring of Medicaid. The Commission's explanation for such breadth that this report intended to indicate the direction that its work is taking based on the six hearings held in cities throughout the country and the book of research papers to be published in the fall of 1993... (p. 8). The plans future reports that will flesh out the arguments made in the first report. This objective of Hard Truths/Tough Choices explains the source of what many may find to be another deficiency, i.e., very general discussion of many of the report's recommendations. Despite its breadth, the body of the report but 65 pages long. On the other hand, what this report lacks in detail, it gains in readability, The writing vigorous, with number of helpful tables and figures scattered throughout. This gives it considerable value as pedagogic resource for courses on public management and state or local government. Indeed, the development of materials suitable for instruction, such as videocassettes, one of the commission's goals. Two other introductory points about the and its first report should be made. First, the asserts that it intends to be a working commission with continuing commitment to educate and motivate people and to make our work part of the |new movement' to improve the capacity of state and local governments se that they lead and manage effectively. Second, while often visionary, the not naive. It recognizes how difficult it will be to achieve many of its proposals. Nor does it make the sort of airy claims for financial savings that have often accompanied governmental reform proposals in the past and that are contained in the Clinton Administration's recent National Performance Review. These are claims that often come back to haunt those who have made them. The Winter Commission even willing to admit that some of its recommendations will require the expenditure of additional tax dollars! Central to the commission's recommendations path to high-performance based on the trust and lead strategy... (p. 9). That is: 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. Engage citizens in the business of while at the same time encouraging them to be partners in problem-solving (p. 9). Much of what flows from this strategy owes an intellectual debt to the reinventing government arguments of David Osborne, Ted Gaebler, and others. This literature is, in turn, an example of what I would call soft-core public choice theory. But the does not completely embrace this worldview. There is, for example, only very limited discussion of privatization. While acknowledging that privatization can bring freshness and energy into government, the cautions that it far from cure-all and actually increase fragmentation of responsibilities as well as long-term costs (p. 38). Turning to some of the specific recommendations in the report, its emphasis on the need for structural revamping of executive branches as key to achieving one of its central goals, namely, removing the barriers to stronger executive leadership, uninspired. …