
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 24, 1994                   TAG: 9408240041
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GEORGE ALLEN

GOV. GEORGE Allen on Monday reminded the General Assembly's money committees: State lawmakers themselves have been saying for years that state-government employment was growing like weeds, that it needed to be pruned, shaped up, brought under control. The public, too, has been saying that's what should be done.

So call him Governor Scissorhands, says Allen. That's what he's been doing.

Which is not to say his hands are clean. There is something to the wails, albeit exaggerated and mostly emanating from legislators of the Democratic persuasion, that Allen is mutilating government's professionalism and politicizing the agencies to their roots.

Even some GOP legislators acknowledge Allen has been somewhat clumsy and callous.

He has removed experienced, apolitical state-agency heads, some appointed by former Republican governors, for what appeared no reason other than that Allen wanted his own team in place.

He has rattled rank-and-file state workers with miscues or few clues as to who and how many might be fired when, why and where.

His efforts to centralize and micromanage decision-making are at odds with good management; his seeming demand for total political spin control is at odds with public service.

This said, however, the evidence that he has utterly botched the downsizing job remains, so far anyway, less than compelling.

In the first place, not that many people have been fired. Of 413 jobs he's eliminated - less than 1 percent of the state's total work force - 247 were vacant positions. And many whose posts were eliminated have found jobs elsewhere in state government.

There's no denying that new hires for top and middle-management jobs have been, overwhelmingly, Republicans in accord with Allen's philosophy and priorities. But that doesn't mean they're all no-talent, know-nothing neophytes when it comes to public policy and seeing to the state's smooth running.

Allen has indeed caused tremors in the bureaucracy. By swashbuckling his future ``streamlining'' intentions, he puts at risk the stability and continuity that have been a hallmark of Virginia government, that have enabled it to attract fine managers and professionals, and that generally have been good for state employees' morale.

But Allen promised the voters ``change,'' and, in office less than a year, he's delivering on his promises. Most citizens appreciate that. What's more, without causing any noticeable disruptions in state services, his trimming and pruning already have saved taxpayers money. Most citizens, doubtless, will see that as change for the better, too.

They will for sure if Allen, in the future, steps back from overly politicizing his personnel policies.

by CNB