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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 30, 1994                   TAG: 9411300026
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BARBARA DYER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TO: WINNERS RE: WHAT TO DO NOW

CONGRATULATIONS. The voters are angry and now you have a chance to do something about it. Whether newly elected or an incumbent who managed to survive the ``throw 'em out'' mood that pervaded the polls, you are now serving the most angry and cynical electorate since the Depression.

The voters are fed up with government. And they expect you to make government work. Here are some suggestions for doing just that, and keeping your job in the meantime.

Understand what voters want. They want to know that their hard-earned tax dollars aren't wasted and that they actually get something for them. They want government to deliver results on issues they care about at an affordable price. They expect you and your colleagues to improve education, deliver health care, reduce crime and eliminate welfare dependency while spending less than government spends today.

Engage the citizenry. Enter into a conversation about what they want done, what role government can play in getting it done, and what role other institutions, such as foundations and community associations, must play. For example, we all want to improve education and we all look to government to get it done. But government can do only so much - more and better trained teachers, for example.

Improving education also requires involved parents and more classroom volunteers; public and private health institutions to ensure that children begin their schooling healthy and ready to learn; civic and religious groups to get children's books to poor parents of preschool-aged children; and volunteers to provide literacy training to parents who can't read to their children.

Join with your colleagues and build a process for creating state or local goals. Use town meetings, public hearings, radio talk shows or satellite video conferences to ask citizens what they want done. Set benchmarks for measuring success. In Oregon, the government produced Oregon Benchmarks with the involvement of more than 7,000 citizens. This document outlines 272 specific outcome-oriented targets for accomplishments, prioritizing a handful as urgent.

Turn quickly and aggressively to budget reform. The budget is the most powerful tool for transforming government. It's the engine that drives every function of government. From Florida to Texas to Iowa to Oregon, state and local governments are linking the budget to desired outcomes. They are estimating the value and costs of achieving each outcome and developing performance-measurement systems for gauging progress. By monitoring performance, you will be able to tell voters what was achieved and at what cost.

End stifling ``micro-management'' - the practice of dictating every spending decision in legislation. Set goals for public agencies and demand accountability, but let government managers determine how best to get the job done. Allow them, for example, to address changing needs by transferring funds from one program to another. And unleash creativity in government. Most government employees are bright, hard-working and dedicated. But they are hamstrung by rigid procedures and rules.

Fix every place where citizens meet their government face to face. If it takes three hours to renew a driver's license, make it half an hour. If it takes half a day to visit a public-health clinic, make it one hour. In Austin, Texas, the government cut the average visit to a public-health clinic from several hours to one hour by studying the ``process'' of the visit. When routine interactions with government are tolerable, even pleasant, people are more likely to begin believing in government again.

Now that you've won the election that was more about voter anger than anything else, here's an important piece of advice. Don't get mired in arguments over big government vs. small government. Focus on what the people want: quality government at an affordable price. Make strides toward that and your next election will be about change and progress. Don't, and you will face anger amongst the electorate reminiscent of the days of tar and feathers.

\ Barbara Dyer is director of the Alliance for Redesigning Government, part of the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington, D.C.

by CNB