By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

How not to run a government

THE easiest way forward is a straight line and not the circuitous route that most government agencies have adopted as their modus operandi. But instead of reducing the size of government to fit into the new, smaller budget, it continues to create boards, rename streets and hire more personnel.
The government’s budget, for example, should have been fixed at $160 million or even lower years ago. Yet the governor and the Legislature enacted a $193 million spending measure despite the obviously declining collections. Now they have to scramble to impose another round of budget cuts.
According to PSS officials they are exempt from the budget reduction which means that other agencies will bear bigger cuts. Public education is a most essential public service an this allows PSS to demand exemption from the budget cuts. But given its enormous responsibility to the community, the school system, in turn, requires more scrutiny than it has gotten over the years. PSS administrators will have to straighten out their procurement problems, and make better hiring decisions that don’t result in a waste of time or resources. Putting junior and inexperienced personnel in charge of procurement, for instance, is not the way to go. It has and it will result in poor procurement practices, protests and ultimately delays in the delivery of government services. Top education administrators need to concentrate on getting the best teachers into the classrooms for the benefit of children and the community, and the best school administrators to run the schools.

Stop the financial hemorrhage

DESPITE the administration’s cost-cutting measures, there is still waste in the government. The practice of retiring top officials with fat bonuses and then bringing them back on board to serve in “advisory positions” is wasteful. This might be justified for a limited period of time, but it tends to be perpetual.
Part of the problem is that top level appointments are typically made on the basis of political considerations and not qualifications. Often, top level officials are not qualified to perform the jobs to which they have been appointed. The Senate, for its part, takes up its “advice and consent” responsibilities merely to satisfy its members’ pro forma job requirements, and the community is left to suffer the consequences. If top level officials are not qualified to handle the jobs to which they are appointed, consultants and advisors have to be hired or kept on board to help these government officials do their jobs. This represents an added cost and an extra layer of bureaucracy to government service that the public must pay for.
This practice, this financial hemorrhaging, must stop if officials do not want to see the government collaps before their very eyes.

Unresolved issues

THE good news this week is that Asiana Airlines has purchased Laolao Bay Golf Course, which has the benefit of tying an airline to a piece of real estate in the commonwealth. This could help bring more tourists to the island and begin a resurgence of interest in the islands.
There are, however, the still unresolved issues of local control of immigration and minimum wage to decide. Also undisclosed are what the administration’s plans are for the disposition of the public utilities.
Privatizations can result in better operations and long-term savings to the general public, but they must be done right from the outset to achieve a positive result. Transparency is a critical part of making sure that privatizations are done right and, on this point, the proposed CUC privatization effort fails already. The CNMI deserves better.