First post back in Minnesota now that I'm reading local news more closely... Let's be brief, starting with this tidbit from Doug Grow, covering filing day and the differing public personalities of the major party nominees.
"We've got four agencies that deal with water," [GOP candidate for governor Tom] Emmer said. "Health, DNR, PCA, BOWSER [sic] … Does that make sense? So much duplication."
For the next five months, Emmer is going to drop a lot nonsense like this and pretend he's talking sense
Is there duplication among those agencies? Maybe some, but Emmer doesn't cite facts to show there's a problem. Nor does he pose a solution. He just leaves it to the listener's imagination and limited attention span to figure it out.
Consider this: The Health Department, Minnesota Department of Education's Food and Nutrition Service, Department of Agriculture and Human Services all deal with food.
The Pollution Control Agency, Health Department, Department of Public Safety and Air National Guard all deal with air. (So do welders, scuba instructors and symphony orchestras.)
The point is not how many agencies touch a broad area, but whether they overlap in expertise, mission, services, etc.
So back to Emmer's quip. Will he put the Health guys in charge of the fish or the fish guys in charge of pollution? How would it work to consolidate agencies — and how much money would it save?
We won't get that kind of thinking from Emmer on this or any subject unless he is repeatedly called on it by opponents, journalists and citizens.
And even then, I'm going to bet he just turns on the charm.
