Since some feed readers don't see the blog's comments, I decided to elevate here comment left by reader C Mattson on another post, about how state departments are being ground down.
I was reading through the comments online of a Strib article and found a comment timestamped 8/2 9:38pm that I found intruiging and a bit disturbing. Here's the link, and a snippet:
I work for MN/DOT, and we have gone from a very vibrant department, recognized world wide for our leadeship, to what amounts to a second rate follower with a very demoralized and overworked workforce. This is the result of the politics of our Governor and Lt. Governor/Transportation Commissioner. The four years under that moron Ventura did not help matters any either.
Our department staffing - with the exception of management, of course - has been cut to the bone over the past 8 years. We do not have the manpower to properly live up to our mission statement, if it still actually exists; I have not heard a word about it in years. In the winter, we have about 100 snowplows sitting idle statewide because we have’nt the people to drive them. Management’s idea for making up the deficit of drivers is to get desk drivers to plow snow. Our Bridge inspectors have been complaining for a few years now that we are in a crisis relative to the conditiion of our bridges, with no funding to properly maintain them. In the meantime Pawlenty keeps borrowing money for huge highly visible construction projects, and patting himself on the back for all of the projects we have going while leaving a financial time bomb for the next Governor to deal with. Our roads are like swiss cheese and many will need major repairs when we finally get someone who is willing to fund their maintenance.Obviously, the full comment contains the posters political point of view (which isn't too hard to decipher). Take the reading for what it's worth.. but ask yourself this: if that point of view is close to the situation-at-large, (a) what else may be lurking, (b) how can the situation be corrected (and corrected quickly)?, and (c) are other departments (local and/or national) run in a similiarly roughshod and/or a-political manner? It's something that gave me pause.
Organizations can't be run effectively over the long haul by leaders insulated from the consequences of their actions; who don't fund the basics; who demean and devalue the people delivering the service — never directly, but as "bureaucrats" or "unions" or "government waste."
