SAVE Commission's findings - La Follette School of Public Affairs ...

Other Voices
Ed Huck, Wisconsin
Alliance of Cities
“There should be some
neutral ground where
local governments can
go to talk about
cooperation.”
Anthony S. Earl,
former Governor
“There needs to be a
big shakeup in
government, perhaps
through a Constitutional
Convention.”
State employee
“Good public policy
does not always equal
popular public policy.”
Walton A. Henderson,
consultant, Wheaton,
IL
“Partnerships are critical
to government and the
private sector.
Partnerships are built on
trust, relationships and
shared goals.”
Thomas L. Consigny,
Wisconsin Power and
Light, Madison
“The most visible
example of ineffectiveness
is duplication and
overlap of police, fire,
planning, taxing and
other services of local
government.”
Citizen caller
“You’ve got to make it
easier for communities
to merge.”
Jim Ryan, Hales
Corners
“There are no incentives
for county government
to create their own
future.”
Anonymous
“Wisconsin ought to
impose an outside limit
on the number of days
of its legislative
sessions.”
Legislator
“The Legislature needs
to be hit on the side of
the head with a 2 x 4.
Do it.”
Legislator
“We have too many
local governments.
Maybe we have too
many legislators.”
State employee
“Collaboration is very
difficult. Create a subcabinet
that fosters
agency cooperation.”
Kathryn Bloomberg,
Mayor, Brookfield
“Persons working in
agencies should do
internships with local
government. There is a
lack of understanding.”
James B. Nyman,
Webster
“Every dollar the state
gets in its hot little hand
comes from taxes and
should be spent with
good management.”
Linda Davidson,
Rhinelander
“Government should live
within its budget.
Corporations and
families live within their
budgets.”
State employee
“How about a system
that promotes saving
money.”
State employee
“It is an anti-personnel
system, not a personnel
system.”
State employee
“It takes forever [for
anything to get done in
the system], even when
the agency has the
authority.”
State employee
“They gave us flexibility
in procurement but my
agency won’t comply.”
State employee
“We spend a lot of time
undoing duplication.”
State employee
“It goes into the
[agency] personnel
office and it dies. It’s like
they learned it from
[another agency]”
State employee
“There are so many
[personnel] bureaucratic
steps and people you
have to go through. It is
just incredible.”
State employee
“Top heavy? We have
bureau directors
supervising only eight
employees.”
State employee
“Section chiefs and
bureau directors are
supervising two, three,
four, five and six
people.”
State employee
“It will take me six
signatures and four
months and I’ll pay $300
for [computer softwear] I
can get now for $70.”
Tom Landgraf,
Heartland Properties,
Madison
“We need to focus on
goals achieved rather
than mistakes avoided.”
Brian Joiner, Joiner
and Associates,
Madison
“Understand the huge
benefits of working
upstream.”
Bill Binn, Madison
“One of the greatest
sources of frustration is
to submit a permit
application and then
wait months before any
action. Often the action
is a request for more
information.”
Leroy A. Bley,
Ozaukee County
Board, Port Washington
“Too often we see a
confrontational attitude
from various state
regulatory agencies that
could serve much better
if an attitude of
cooperation were used.”
Professor Marc
Eisner, regulatory
reviewer
“There is a distinct lack
of intra-agency
coordination in the
policy area.”
Michael Giese,
Onalaska
“The unique challenge
for government is to
step back and look for
the common good.”
CITIZEN • COMMUNITY • GOVERNMENT — WISCONSIN: THE 21 ST CENTURY 79