Panel looking for government savings must be mindful of implementation

People running for office often say they want to run government like a business. Then they get elected and find out they can’t. Former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones found that out. Former Gov. Kenny Guinn found it out. Clark County Commissioner Chip Maxfield found it out, too.

“You think you can understand a problem, make a decision and change it,” said Maxfield, an engineer who used that process at his former company, Southwest Engineering.

Government, has other complexities. Federal, state and union issues complicate decisions.

“And there’s more compassion in government than there is in a business,” he said, citing social services and indigent hospital care.

Despite that, starting Thursday, 14 business people are going to use well-honed business practices to find government waste.

Let’s wish them luck.

The 14 are evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. If there’s a north-south split in their deliberations, Southern Nevadans will win because there are only four Northern Nevadans. Three commissioners are women. Four have gaming experience.

They were among the 200 who answered Gov. Jim Gibbons’ call to serve on the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission to find ways to cut state government costs. They will work for free, spending about 20 to 30 hours a month for two years, and they’re expected to pay their own expenses.

(I’m surprised they found anyone to serve, much less 14 executives.)

The chairman, Bruce James, former U.S. public printer, has cost-cutting credentials. In 2002, President Bush nominated James, who made his fortune as a publisher, to head the Government Printing Office. When James took the job, the office was bleeding a $35 million annual deficit. In 18 months, James said, he cut the work force by 30 percent through voluntary departures and improved technology. When he left, the office was making $100 million a year.

James, a Lake Tahoe resident, is committed to reducing state government costs — without layoffs.

For the SAGE Commission, James wanted established business leaders “who are experienced in upsizing and downsizing, people who have been through economic cycles.”

No public educators. No state workers. Nobody who earns income from a public source in Nevada. That eliminated city, county and state employees, university types or anyone with a government contract.

The final report isn’t due until June 30, 2010, suggesting Gibbons thinks he’ll be re-elected. Many of the savings proposed probably would require action by the 2011 Legislature. The panel also can make suggestions earlier.

Cost-cutting commissions aren’t new. Guinn in 1999 had the Fundamental Review of State Government. In January 2001, its 16 members returned a 162-page report with 65 suggestions to save $50 million by improving the efficiency and organization of state government.

By the time the Legislature was finished with the proposals, the savings dropped to $30 million. Legislators didn’t have the fortitude to adopt many of the proposals.

James is optimistic the SAGE panel will succeed.

“This group can empower people in state government to come forward with their ideas,” James said. “State workers know the answers.”

Let’s see how many state workers come forward with ideas that are adopted.

Nobody is against saving money, but clearly a few folks on the commission are there to play defense, including Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley’s appointees, former Assemblyman David Goldwater and Jones.

The commission includes successful businessmen Don Ahern, Bob Feldman, Bob Forbuss, Steve Hill, Howard Putnam, Jim Thornton and Randy Garcia. Those with gaming backgrounds are Jones, Jerome Snyder, Steve Greathouse and former Tax Commission Chairwoman Barbara Smith Campbell.

Bringing institutional memory to the panel is Nevada Taxpayers Association President Carole Vilardo, who made six pages of recommendations to the Guinn committee, including eliminating boards and commissions that have become unnecessary and cutting state jobs that haven’t been filled in 14 months.

Neither idea got through the Legislature.

James said SAGE staff on Thursday will present an analysis of the results of Guinn’s fundamental review study.

May I suggest they investigate which proposals were killed by legislators and why. Good ideas without implementation are just ideas that go nowhere.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.