McDonnell Election Mandate Opens Exciting Possibilities
By Mike Thompson • Nov 11th, 2009 • Category: Politics, Top Story
Government seems to plod along in the same basic rut year in and year out. Taxes are collected and the same old programs are funded without much thought as to why, what the original purpose was, how effective it is, or if there is a better use of these funds in today’s world. There is no priority listing of state government programs so the least important can be cut out in tough economic times.
Bob McDonnell will enter his first year as Governor in a strong position to take creative, out-of-the-box actions that will have the support of the voters who swept him into office on November 3rd. He can change the way state government functions.
How exciting would it be if the new Governor decided to dramatically change the budget that outgoing Governor Tim Kaine presents in mid-December. The financial crisis faced by our state government opens up a true opportunity to rearrange the chess board. Priorities of public safety, education, the social safety net and transportation need to be analyzed and determined if the current dollars spent are being maximized or if better methods can be implemented to reach our goals.
Because of federal government programs that seem to be curtailing a strong private sector rebound, our state government can’t bet on a robust recovery anytime soon. Indeed, we had best re-evaluate our priorities and our spending if we hope to keep Virginia’s economy as strong as possible.
Programs will need to be critically evaluated and reduced or eliminated wherever possible. It’s been ten years since the state’s own agencies identified more than 37,000 state jobs that could be evaluated and potentially turned-over to the private sector. Assuming an average of $68,000 per job including benefits, if only half of these jobs could be sent to the private sector, and if the federal government’s savings of 30 percent for outsourcing jobs could be found here in Virginia, we could realize a savings of $377 million a year or almost $755 million over the two year budget cycle. This transfer of state jobs to the private sector should begin immediately.
And the possibilities for public private partnerships abound. There are private companies anxious to bring their resources to help Virginia reach its goals. One company alone has $2 billion, and maybe as much as $5 billion, to help with our roads and our public education buildings. Another has talked about taking over the management of our state lottery (federal law may need to be changed but that should be easy in today’s economy) and offering somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 billion and maybe more for this opportunity. Yet another company has an interest in taking over the management of the college investment fund and may pay as much as $8 billion for that management asset. All of these investments would be time-limited so at the end of the time-period the state would regain control of the programs or assets.
And of course the state does not need to be in the liquor business and can rid itself of the ABC stores while not losing the $130 million or so a year it collects in taxes and fees. Creative minds are already working on this and the possibilities are exciting to say the least.
Why doesn’t Virginia contract out the maintenance of its primary and secondary roads to the private sector in a public bidding process that would require quality work in a timely manner? We should do this on a test basis immediately and be prepared to expand the program if the test is successful. Other states have found this idea to be successful. It is time for Virginia to move in this direction.
Our education system needs to look at what is best for the students and not what continues yesterday’s way of doing things just because that is what we have done and the school bureaucracies don’t like change. This includes charter schools, tuition tax credits for students in at-risk neighborhoods for scholarships to get into better schools, reading programs that work, public private partnerships for rebuilding our aging school buildings, distance learning where practical, and open enrollment for students to attend any school in their county or city that has room for them Newsweek magazine’s cover story a couple of weeks ago said that the average four year degree now takes six years and seven months. So giving our student five years of tax subsidized college credits to gain a four year degree is something that should be seriously considered. We could move more Virginia students through our higher education system, get our young people into our economy and paying taxes more quickly, and accomplish this without the need to hire additional professors and build more classrooms. More than six and half years to gain a four year degree should no longer be acceptable.
Jobs are the key to our future. We must recruit businesses to Virginia. We must offer incentives for business in Virginia today to expand. We need to make sure that what we are teaching our kids are the tools needed in today’s and tomorrow’s economy. And we need to build a modern inter-connected transportation system that focuses on congestion relief and not political pork. Congestion is a job killer and we must focus on relief of this nightmare in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
Our new Governor has only four years to make his mark and move on. This isn’t much time and he needs to take his electoral mandate and move government away from the past and into the future. These are potentially exciting times for Bob McDonnell. He can truly change the status quo.
Mike Thompson is the chairman and president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, Virginia’s premier non-partisan public policy foundation.
For 24 years Mr. Thompson owned his own marketing company in Springfield. During 11 of those years he was also president of a family owned group of furniture stores in Georgia. After selling his company he started the Thomas Jefferson Institute.
He has been very active in national, state and local politics and has been a member of a number of community organizations, commissions, and committees. He is the Past Chairman of the Virginia Leadership Council for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and serves as Vice Chairman of the internationally acclaimed Fund for American Studies.
These views are his and do not necessarily reflect those the Institute or its Board of Directors.
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OK, Let’s privatize every part of The Commonwealth. That way we will not need a Governor or The General Assembly for that matter. Yippee no more election cycles. Every citizen will just stroke a check or put on a charge cared the price for every individual service they use. Won’t have to pay for other peoples needs. No more taxes. My bet is that we will be no better off four years from now than we are now.
[...] Bacon’s Rebellion has an excellent post on the mandate that voters gave Bob McDonnell to reshape Virginia government in order to get spending back under control. Head on over. They’ll give you a lot to think about. [...]
Frances R:
The state doesn’t need to be in the liquor business any more than it should own and run convenience stores, commercial printing shops or gas stations. Most states don’t have government owned liquor stores and the additional taxes from the private owned outlets are significant. We have huge infrastructure needs from roads and bridges to aging schools and the need for new K-12 schools. Our state retirement system is not fully funded. Increasing taxes isn’t the only answer nor the preferred answer. Twenty first century management techniques and careful consolidation of state government functions are part of the answer, but bringing private funds to the table to help us repair our roads and bridges, build new roads through HOT lanes and tolls, and repair our old schools and build new ones is a logical way to move forward. Shedding those things that government shouldn’t do or doesn’t do well and allowing the private sector to be more involved in providing services, building infrastructure, and selling liquor (a logical private sector business) makes sense. Otherwise these necessities won’t be done and our economic vitality will slowly deteriorate.
The state should take this down turn as a time to overhall all state run agencies. My guess is most could reduce their work force through retirements by one third and nevr see a fall off of service. Lets get leaner and meaner, while getting the biggest bang for the buck. I also have a highly radical solution to improve the Educational system in the Commonwealth, which data shows is already among the nation’s elite, ask the teachers what needs to be done to improve our schools. They are the professionals and have the expertise and experience to lead improvements.
Have you taken a look at the boondoggle that is in place for maintenance of some of our insterstates (by private for-profit firms)? Littered roadways, repairs not completed, questionable accounting.
It will be very difficult to do any of the items proposed by Mr. Thompson in only 4 years. It will be impossible to do all of them. If the incoming governor is serious about reform, he should not to dilute his efforts. He should focus on one or two significant reforms and make those the centerpiece of his administration. It can be education or transportation or job creation. He should determine the result that he desires and plan accordingly, recognizing there are powerful forces who will oppose any reform at all. Such strategic thinking is rare in government. Partisanship on both sides of the aisle has caused gridlock, namecalling and finger pointing, rather than working to improve the Commonwealth. Partisanship will not be changed by the new governor. Therefore, he will need a focused, disciplined approach to achieve any reform at all. I wish him good luck. He’ll need it.
He has an opportunity and if he can play it straight – no games and gimmicks and no partisan finger-in-the-eye nastiness…
just straight-arrow approaches – that gets a substantial number of both houses in the GA on board.
For all the hurrah over Kaine – I think he has played it fairly straight on the budget…not perfect.. some bumps.. but over all for a guy pegged to be a tax & spender – in the face of shortfalls – he did his duty.
McDonnell does have the opportunity – but there is also peril .. he can screw this up.. so the ball is in his court.
JCH;Many states and cities (like Chicago and New York) have been very successful in the public private partnerships that have been crafted. Properly written contracts with responsibilities clearly outlined will allow problems to be avoided. We can learn from others’ victories and others’ mistakes so we can build on the former and avoid the latter. Chicago sold its toll road in less than 18 months and it took less time to turn its parking meters over the private sector and it received a $1 billion for each. There is private money to invest in our state and we should take advantage of it in a way where the investor and the state both come out better.
Kevin: These projects can be done in reasonable time frames if folks will row in the same direction and get it done. Others have done it and so can we. Sure there may be some reforms that take longer than others but our new Governor can set the gears in motion and in four years we can accomplish a great deal. My bet is that we will be more than pleasantly surprised at how much is accomplished if the partisanship is set aside and the goal is on improving our state. And in four years, if Bob McDonnell will have a great deal to be proud of and the next governor will be able to take the ball as it is handed off and continue the process. Remember that the Berlin Wall came down under President Bush but the whole collapse of the Soviet Union was set up under Ronald Reagan.
Mike– Your point is correct in theory but irrelevant in practice. Of course meaningful reform can happen “if the partisanship is set aside and the goal is on improving the state.” My point is that the partisanship will NOT be set aside. The party outside the Governor’s mansion (now the dems but the reps for the past 4 years) will do everything in its power to thwart real improvement so that party can win back the governor’s election 4 years hence. Outside of generalities (More Services! No! Spend less and keep taxes low!) politics has virtually nothing to do with “improvement” on either the federal or state level. It has everything to do with acquiring and maintaining power. Even if some legislators on both sides of the aisle are willing to engage in constructive negotiations, they do not have the firepower to initiate real reform. Many electoral districts (not all, but many) have been re-drawn over the past few cycles to ensure that a particular party will hold that district for the foreseeable future. As a result, those elected representatives have a vested interest in not reaching across the aisle, for fear that they will face a challenger in the next primary that will portray themselves as more liberal/conservative (take your pick) than the incumbant. Hence the need for our new Governor to pick his battles. If he tries to do too much, he will wind up with nothing. Sad but true.
Address the causes of soaring Virginia spending. See the JLARC annual updates on state spending. Inflation-adjusted Medicaid spending up four times faster than population. Inflation-adjusted public school spending up four times faster than enrollment. Inflation-adjusted college budgets up three times faster than enrollment. Are these spending increases necessary or excessive? I believe that they are excessive, but what do Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling, and Ken Cuccinelli think? Education and Medicaid spending account for sixty percent of Virginia spending increases. Then there is the prison population increasing twice as fast as overall population. Why? Perhaps because of the failure of public schools to teach low-income children and the welfare incentives (free housing, free food, free medical care, free childcare) to have children out of wedlock.