State Bureaucracy
The old home team is doing good stuff
This is a journalist doing what journalists are supposed to do.
5Aug2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Open records struggle in Vermont
This week saw a new chapter in open records struggles here in Vermont. The Vermont State Employees Association, the state workers’ union, had requested from the Department of Human Resources emails and other documents relating to Gov. Douglas’ plan to cut 400 jobs from the state’s payrolls. DHR responded with a demand for $1700 to pay for the time DHR staff would have to spend gathering the documents
2Aug2008 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
Getting the approval of 15 different agencies
The Gulf Port, MS, Sun Herald reports today on both the problems and progress of the Missisippi Development Authority (MDA) in its post-Katrina rebuilding efforts.
Officials from the Mississippi Development Authority paint a picture of vital Hurricane Katrina-relief projects still snared in federal bureaucracy almost three years after the storm.
But members of the MDA [...]
Unpacking the last decision: Egregious is as egregious does
If Franz Kafka and Lewis Carroll had provided the raw materials for the fantastical creation of a government office, their results would probably look very much like the Office of Professional Regulation in the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. Last week I posted the latest and last decision in my Kafkaesque journey through the Looking Glass world of the OPR. This week I unpack that decision.
6Jul2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Oh, the challenges of setting up good bureaucracies…
This situation touches on deficient personal ethics of the officers who milked the system, but the flaw they exploited appears to have been an innocent one. That’s different from corrupt government officials intentionally setting things up (e.g. “no bid contracts”) so as to benefit themselves and their cronies, as we have seen so often during the Bush administration.
8May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Bureaucrats and Billboards
I was still living in North Carolina and under the age of majority when one evening at dinner Dad waxed eloquent and enthusiastic after meeting Vermont’s Governor Phil Hoff, and also about what had just happened in Vermont. The event of note was the ban of billboards in Vermont, preserving open scenic views along [...]
7May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Lots of ‘He said–He said’ in Missouri’s Open Records Mess
Last month I ran a little item about the situation in Missouri, and since then it has expanded into a “he said—he said” mess of grand proportions. Governor Matt Blunt has his hands full, as does MO’s Attorney General, Jay Nixon. There are bunches more people involved, however, with lawsuits developing so quickly one would [...]
6May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Thumbs Up to Oak Lawn Bureaucrats, Thumbs Down to Illinois State Bureaucrats
This is just too typical, funny and sad all at the same time.
Town ends comical ‘Stop’ signs like ‘Stop! In the Name of Love’
1 day ago
OAK LAWN, Ill. (AP) — Oak Lawn has removed comical remarks in octagonal shapes it placed under stop signs in an effort to get motorists to obey the law.
Mayor Dave [...]
Catching Up
Recovery from knee surgery is going really well, but it has set me back on posting here, which is a tad frustrating with so many relevant things going on. This post will consist of snippets and links to a few of those stories.
Beginning with last week, there was the story about federal bureaucrats spending [...]
The Broken FDA and Thoughts of Stakeholder Governance
I can’t help but wonder, though, if there might be a better, less adversarial model that might work–something that involves stakeholder organizations being in active dialogue throughout each phase of both policing and regulatory functions.
7Apr2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Vermont Child Protection Update
The Human Services and Judiciary Committees each developed bills that shifts the mode of operation more toward providing service to children and families in trouble, and away from the more corrections-oriented approach that has prevailed under the old laws.
31Mar2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
A Story to Watch in Tahoe
This is a story I will check back in on from time to time. It certainly has the makings of possibly winding up in the Strategies and Solutions Library someday.
29Mar2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Open records requests, sunshine laws in Missouri’s headlines, too…
STLtoday - Blunt turns over 3,000 pages of records
ASSOCIATED PRESSJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Gov. Matt Blunt’s office has provided attorney general’s investigators with almost 3,000 pages of documents detailing open-records requests made by the media, his political opponents and citizens.
But that information covers only a small part of what investigators appointed by Attorney General Jay [...]
Iowa’s doing it, too…
The article also quotes an Iowan who has made an issue of access to particular records as saying that he thinks the newly-proposed office to deal with records requests “…would stop a lot of this stuff from happening in cities and counties.” That’s what I think, too, about all manner of bureaucratic missteps in Vermont—a lot of it would never happen if bureaucrats knew that someone was looking over their shoulder and could hold them accountable.
19Mar2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Sunshine and other updates…
Sunshine, sunshine everywhere? Ah, were it only true—even the sort that one of these days will melt the snow in my yard and draw toward it the sharp green shoots of daffodils and tulips. As for political sunshine: I’ve refrained thus far from joining the fray about former Gov. Spitzer, which all came [...]
18Mar2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
And now a few words about the journalists…
So now we have these talking heads who are all rah-rah for the right or the left and who have turned the words “fair” and “balanced” into limping, oozing parodies of themselves. Blog Land often doesn’t show itself to be a lot better, but there are some wonderful, real journalists who pop up from time to time.
6Mar2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
New Website in NY: WGRZ News - Shedding Some Light on Your Elected Leaders
A ray of sunshine, and presumably some fresh air to follow, dawns in New York:
WGRZ News - Shedding Some Light on Your Elected Leaders
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Want to find out what your state and local elected officials are up to?
New York state has a new Web site that makes that task much easier.
It’s called [...]
“Pure, vindictive, political thuggery:” A New Tale of Vermont Politics
Green Mountain Daily just added this post about Burlington’s Intervale having lost a major battle to stay in operation and continue providing its many benefits to the community and state. Granted that there were problems with composting in the Intervale, but the responsible parties were willing to, well, be responsible, and make whatever [...]
28Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Proposing Professional Adjudicative Standards
As evident in several previous posts, the approach I’m taking to address the problem of incompetent and conflict-of-interest ridden bureaucracies is to seek legislative remedies. I have recently had exchanges with colleagues who are taking different approaches to the same kind of problem. One aims to develop a coaching/mentoring network to help people [...]
17Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Not So Common Sense and Vermont State Laws
On the one hand, we do not want every detail legislated, but neither can we fail to specify “common sense” behavior when people who should know better repeatedly fail to act that way.
10Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Hello Debby,
Just this week I sent 2 copies of the eulogy for your Dad to people. This happens regularly. ...
