Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994 TAG: 9405170024
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CLIFTON A. WOODRUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The University of Virginia's Center for Public Service devoted its March 1994 edition to an article reviewing the prior reforms. One of its conclusions, most interestingly, establishes that the 1973-78 Commission on State Governmental Management - known as the Hopkins Commission, after its chairman, Roanoke's state Sen. William B. Hopkins - was by far the most comprehensive and most successful reorganization of the century.
The Hopkins Commission existed for five years and was comprised of a majority of state legislators from both parties of each house, three citizens and one member of the executive branch. It had a professional staff of eight. The General Assembly passed more than 61 pieces of its recommended legislation.
All, or nearly all, of these statutes exist today with only minor changes. Legislation that resulted from the Hopkins Commission was responsible in no small way for Virginia's unprecedented ranking as the best-managed state in the United States for two consecutive years by Financial World magazine.
Hopkins recognized that the objective was to have information on personnel and finance flowing into the administration on a daily basis and to give the governor the information with which to make sound decisions and to save money. He felt the governor also had to have the power to act. At the time it began its work, the commission found that most agency heads were answerable to citizen boards. This, of course, frustrated efforts to make the agencies more responsive to the central executive and to the will of the people. Certainly those agency heads, who were able to manipulate their boards, had no desire to become directly responsible to a strong central executive.
The five-year longevity of the Hopkins Commission was an important factor in its success. In the effort to make this somewhat feudalistic system more responsive to the executive, and, thereby, to the people, Hopkins recognized that Rome was neither built nor dismantled in a day. Hence, the opportunity to reflect on the changes played an important part in the process. In Virginia, change is seldom rapid, and quick fixes are hardly ever accepted.
Perhaps as important as anything, however, was Hopkins' ability to put aside partisan concerns to focus on the objectives. A fiercely partisan straight-ticket Democrat, he hired as his chief of staff Patrick M. McSweeney, a fiercely partisan conservative Republican who now serves as that party's state chairman. Since the commission functioned mainly during the Godwin and Dalton administrations, Democrat Hopkins sought avenues through which to communicate, coordinate and cooperate with an executive branch that was in the Republicans' hands. He chose Charles Walker, Virginia's comptroller under Gov. Godwin and Gov. Dalton's secretary of administration and finance. The cooperation between these two ultimately led to successful cooperation between the executive and legislative branches in fashioning realistic proposals and carrying them through.
The legislative success of the Hopkins Commission can be largely attributed to the personnel selected. On the Senate side, its roster read like a ``Who's Who'' of the establishment: Sens. Hopkins, Ed Willey of Richmond (Senate Finance Committee chairman), Abe Brault (the Northern Virginia leader) and Elmon Gray (leader of the Southside bloc with close ties to Richmond's Main Street). The legislation's success in that branch was assured with their support.
In the House of Delegates, a somewhat more complex situation existed. Of course, the House, with its larger and more diverse membership, generally presents a greater legislative challenge. In this instance, the fact that it had more Republican Party members added a degree of complexity to an already difficult equation. Nonetheless, efforts by Democrats W.L. ``Bill'' Lemmon of Smyth County and Joseph Leafe of Norfolk, and Republican Clinton Miller of Shenandoah were successful in this more difficult body.
The bipartisan cooperation in the legislative and executive branches and the political ``clout'' of personalities involved were sufficient to overcome the resistance of the ``independent'' agency heads.
Government isn't a static thing. It changes, grows and evolves from generation to generation. In the words of Gov. James H. Price: ``There is never a time when we can fold our hands with the sense of a job well done. No amount of mere shuffling of agencies, divisions and bureaus is likely to accomplish very much ... ''
His observation was, and is, accurate. We can always improve and our objectives may always change. But the methodology employed by the Hopkins Commission, its willingness to involve executive and legislative bodies, its willingness to adopt a bipartisan approach and its basic understanding of, and appreciation for, the process, serves as a model for success, no matter what the ultimate objectives may be.
Gov. Allen's advisers would do well to emulate this example.
Clifton A Woodrum of Roanoke is a Democrat who serves in the House of Delegates.
by CNB