State Of Katy's Analysis D- , RE: "Welcome to the state of denial!"
I joined BlogsNH because I love to write. Up to that point, I wrote letters and answered columns with which I disagreed. In the early days of my writing, it was much easier than it is today to get a letter or response to a column posted. Whether that is due to an influx of people writing letters and engaged in the issues of the day, which I champion or the agenda of the new editor at the Monitor, I am not sure. In the end I see BlogsNH as a great vehicle with very talented and diverse writers that will grow and be a major part of the Monitor organization.
From time to time I still write to the Monitor and even if they don't publish what I have written, the exercise only strengthens my writing. It is all good fun, but occasionally, if what I write is not published and if I feel as if something needs to be said, I will post that piece on this blog. Today, that is the case as I respond to Katy Burns' column of March 9, 2009 titled "Welcome to the state of denial".
I never miss the chance to read a Katy Burns column and my reaction is always the same as I digest the last word of the piece: "Bull****". Her March 9th column did not disappoint my angst. Katy once again raised my ire by telling only half of the story that supports her core beliefs. I am including the link to Katy's column so that anyone reading this can take a peek.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080309/OPINION/803090352/1028/OPINION02
Now here is the rest of the story and the response: RE: "Welcome to the state of denial"
State of Katy’s Analysis…D-
In her usual jejune analytical form, Katy Burns continues to pick and choose her sources for commentary on everything and most recently the findings by the Governance Performance Project which she represents as “a collaboration of the prestigious Pew Center on the States and Governing magazine, a highly-regarded professional journal for people involved in state and local government.” (YAWN)
This organization that performed the research is part of the Pew Charitable Trusts In 2004 the Pew Trusts were taken from a foundation into a non-profit group that is allowed to raise funds freely and is able to invest up to 20% of those funds to lobby the public sector. The Pew organization is a ‘progressive’ think tank and its leader, Rebecca Rimel Pew stated that her primary goal is to: “reinfuse the idealism of the Sixties into our work.” What more needs to be said?
One only needs to review the Pew Center on the States website to understand that the staff are uber liberals, “activists”, ‘public policy’ wonks, liberal journalists with political agenda and yes, ‘academics’. We should not forget that those who can not ‘do’….’teach’. A list of those prestigious journalists finds none who are not progressive.
Many academics have never worked in the public sector where your future is tied to managing expenditure and many have never managed anything. The validity of the research of this organization is definitely not without question and speaks to agenda.
However, I could not comment fairly on this report without reading the entire report, comparing the analysis of the project on the other states as well. That is just what I did and what I found was that of the top states in the report most were Blue states with unbridled taxation and social spending.
The report made valid points on the infrastructure including condition of bridges, roads and technology. There is room for improvement and we should invest in the infrastructure. I travel to many states and we are in better shape than most on roads and bridges but ours are not maintained as well as in the past.
Concerning the project’s analysis of the structure of government; the agenda of the Pew trust shows through. They don’t like the Executive Council because they hold the governor in check; well, too bad.
They also were not pleased with the fact that some department heads are appointed to terms that are not concurrent with governors; well, too bad again! Katy refers to this as a “bottleneck”; I call it checks and balances. That is a New Hampshire Advantage.
Reading the Pew Governance Performance Project is like reading opinion of the New Hampshire DNC.
The report states: “Decisions about how to comply with court rulings ordering more equitable school funding have dragged on for nearly a decade.” Albeit true, does it sound like the familiar political ranting of one of the political parties?
It further analysis the report states: “The basic system of government is designed to make it difficult to transform anything”, explains one former state official.
The problem in most states is the ease at which politicians and ‘state officials’ can willy-nilly transform things and push personal agenda!
The report includes anecdotal comments from state employees that are obviously tainted with bitterness and anger at the state and how it is run. Burns reveals that the analysis was a product of: “40 reporters, researchers and academics”…“supplemented with interviews of more than 1,400 people, ranging from state legislators and employee to leaders of civic organizations”. (YAWN)
You could read the minutes of any SEA meeting or interview any Democrat in the legislature and get the same responses.
Next Burns critiques Governor Lynch, stating: “And it's a question that our governor with his Harvard Business School MBA ought to be willing and even eager to answer.” (YAWN)
That was kind of a low blow! I am not a Lynch fan by any means and to me an MBA, whether from Harvard or not, proves nothing. But all of a sudden Katy is interested in running the state like a “business”? WOW, I would agree if that is what she truly believes! And maybe that is what we need to do. Instead of going to the public well and pull up buckets of money with no appreciation of where that comes from (the hard labor of the citizens), perhaps we should run the state budget as if it was a business budget.
There is no doubt that we need to bring New Hampshire into the 21st century by improving our technology, roads, bridges and other infrastructure. However, we also need to ensure that government is held in check. One only needs to look South to Massachusetts and note the result of out of control government with no checks, balances or “bottlenecks”, Katy.
Once again, Burns pines for an expressway of unbridled spending and big government. That is infrastructure and “progress” that will only lead to a New Hampshire ‘Disadvantage’.
