The problem we are having with governance in our State deals primarily and fundamentally with the “process of governance” which for too long has been controlled by the corporatist lobbying interests in our State, who not only control the process of legislating, but they also control the regulatory administrative bureaucracy that has for 30 years shared a symbiotic relationship with the very interests they are charged with regulating. Think about IACI, IMA/IHA—and the Department of Health and Welfare (DHW).
Think of the two large education lobbies in our State and how they control education legislation and administration. Do parents and students have more of a say in education or does the IEA? What about the Department of Insurance (DOI) and the large insurance carriers? A revolving door from industry to legislature to Department Director has been part of the process at both (DHW) and (DOI) There is no question that expertise within an industry should be tapped for the good of the people, but unelected Department Heads should have term limits just like legislators should have term limits. Part of the job of a boss should be to groom new talent. The other point is when young talent no longer sees a way to the top because the “old guys are squatting”, they leave for the private sector. The opportunity for upward advancement in an organization can be just as important as a 5% pay raise.
The problem as I see it from the outside, is that our solons in government have for too many years only looked at the problem from the inside out. They are good and talented people Their service is to be respected, but their vision has been tainted by the shadow of incumbency and the inertia of institutionalism.
In 1995 the book EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE was written by Daniel Goleman. It followed in one chapter the careers of Harvard Day School Children from Kindergarten on. The sons and daughters of Harvard faculty members who all had IQ’s higher than average. But after following the group for 40 years, IQ wasn’t what determined their success in life. One student with a high IQ was homeless. A young girl at the lower end of IQ became the CEO of the Scott Paper Company. What made her different was her ability to place herself outside of the center of those she related with. All the other young children would paint or draw pictures of themselves at the center of the picture with the other classmates orbiting around them. The young girl that became the CEO of Scotts Paper would create pictures, with herself in one corner of the picture and the other students filling out the middle. She was able to place herself outside the processes that were happening in her classroom and on the playground. We need legislators and people in government who realize that it is WE THE PEOPLE who should be in the center of the picture, and not legislators, government bureaucrats or lobbyists.
That is precisely why we need independent outside audits of government agencies, and not government agencies auditing themselves.
I also believe that one of the reasons mothers and fathers make good legislators is because they have spent a good part of their lives painting pictures with themselves looking from the outside in—their children in the case of all good families, are at the center of the picture.
I have often times wondered if we had leaders with the wisdom of a Solomen, we would screen all our legislators and those who hold public office in the following manner: WE would first divide all the people into two groups. Those who want to serve and those who don’t. We would then disqualify all those who want to serve and choose our leaders from the second group, thus screening out individual ambition and self-serving motivations out of the equation. We could then ask them all to paint a picture of themselves and their neighborhoods. If they put themselves in the center of the picture they would be disqualified.
WE have too many people in Washington DC and in Boise who are serving not their fellow citizens but themselves and special interest corporate lobbyists. They are placing the special interests and their own interests at the center of the picture.
Why on earth would anyone want to create a DOGE Committee made up of legislators? Because they want to paint their own picture with themselves in the center. Why have there not been full public disclosures of the problems with LUMA, (DHW), and The Idaho Health Information Exchange—because those painting the picture are at the center of the picture.
Our leaders in the future should remember to place themselves at the outside of our pictures. Looking from the inside out, doesn’t allow for anyone to see the “log in their own eye”.
OUTSIDE AUDITS AND AN INDEPENDENT IDAHO DOGE. Please. With all due respect.
