Remember, a few months back, all the talk from Democrats and Republicans about the need to reinvent government?
Memo to interested observers: It’s not happening and as things go in government generally, the opportunity has — for now — been lost.
To be fair, it may be impossible to truly change the way things are done across the board. There are too many vested interests in government as it is, beginning with state employee unions who are masters of protecting the status quo and long-term bureaucrats who always outlive even the longest serving elected officials. But it would have been worth a try.
The failure to make wholesale change began when both parties decided to approach this year’s budget process the way it’s always done. Gov. M. Jodi Rell decided against putting an unassailable budget plan on the table that truly reordered priorities, in favor of one that is politically appealing to the mass of Connecticut voters with no time to pay attention to the detail.
Putting a real plan on the table would have forced Democrats into a debate based on the merits. Republicans would have been fighting for a visionary view of state government while Democrats would have been forced to defend the special interests standing in the way of change.
The strategy to put forward an unrealistic plan has instead stymied Democrats who sense they have been set up to take the fall for any tax increases that may be necessary. They are right. The practical effect is both parties have spent the entire legislative session jockeying for position in a political battle that can’t be won by either side.
To reinvent government, standard operating procedures would have to be set aside at the start. Even before her budget proposal in February, Rell and legislative leaders would have come together to ask two fundamental questions:
• What do we want government to do?
• How are we going to pay for it?
The goal of the first set of negotiations would have been to agree, from Democratic and Republican perspectives, on the core functions of government. Rell spoke about core functions back in January, but she never sought agreement on them.
If she had, and if she had been successful, it would have been a remarkable breakthrough that might have led to government reinvention. If the effort failed, she would have been able to paint Democrats as the obstacle. She chose short-term political advantage over a transformative vision. If winning in politics is defined as maintaining high approval ratings, this is a winning strategy.
When final agreement is reached on this year’s budget, it is very likely that a few agencies will be merged or even eliminated. Almost every program will face cuts or be held at current spending levels. The end product, however, will not be a government reinvention because the process used to win agreement is only capable of producing a standard result.
Every crisis is an opportunity to lead. In Washington, President Obama’s team has a mantra: “Never let a serious crisis go to waste.” It means every crisis provides a chance to change the rules and break with the established order. The Great Depression led to the New Deal. Sputnik led to the United States putting a man on the moon.
So far, the Connecticut budget crisis of 2009 has led to a decision to delay the reestablishment of the Department on Aging. This crisis is going to waste, but it may lead to a new one that will hit in 2010 just in time for the next statewide election.
Dean Pagani is a former gubernatorial advisor. He is vice president of public affairs for Cashman and Katz Integrated Communications in Glastonbury.
