- Columnist Bill Crawford says eliminating any and all waste in government is a worthy goal, but also worthy of more commonsense, less incredible rhetoric.
“Commonsense needed to move Mississippi forward,” read the headline in the Magnolia Tribune. Who could disagree with that?
But what followed was the latest PR blurb from State Auditor Shad White.
“We are now at a critical moment,” he said. “The future of the economy is unclear. Our population growth seems stagnant. We’re still last in poverty rankings, with a new generation of kids in fatherless homes on the road to being dependent on government for the rest of their lives.
All that is on point and important.
“To move our state forward,” he continued, “we must now take a chainsaw to the fat in state government.”
Alright!
Auditor White’s bold rhetoric matched the intent of bold cuts Gov. Haley Barbour proposed to the legislature in 2009. These included:
1) Consolidate school districts to reduce the number by one-third;
2) Consolidate backroom services among community colleges, reduce the number of community colleges from 15, downsize their intercollegiate athletics, and consolidate backroom services;
3) Merge universities and consolidate their purchasing, procurement, and backroom operations;
4) Eliminate agencies such as Mississippi Technology Alliance, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions, and the Mississippi River Parkway Commission;
5) Merge the Forestry Commission, the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, the Board of Animal Health, the Fair Commission, the Board of Registered Foresters, the Egg Marketing Board, and the Board of Veterinary Medicine into one agency; and
6) Modify PERS benefits for current and prospective state employees.
That would have been a very active fat cutting chainsaw had the Legislature gone along with the governor.
Against that backdrop Auditor White’s chainsaw looks more like paper scissors.
Eliminate DEI programs, he said, which are a pittance of IHL’s $4 billion budget and mostly harmless. Deport all illegal aliens in advance to save $1.7 million in prison costs for those convicted of crimes, he said, another pittance compared to our prison budget of $459 million and with associated transportation costs and legal fees unlikely to save anything. There was more but you get the picture – no big, chainsaw level cuts included darn it.
Amazingly, Auditor White claimed such meagre savings could lead to tax cuts, hiring more police, building better roads and bridges, and paying teachers more.
All worthy goals but with price tags far exceeding his proposed savings.
That said, eliminating any and all waste in government is a worthy goal, but also worthy of more commonsense, less incredible rhetoric.
“With lots of words comes wrongdoing, but the wise refrain their lips” – Proverbs 10:19.
Bill Crawford
