A smaller, smarter Iowa government

Iowa government needs to be smaller, smarter and more service oriented.

In order to accomplish this, it needs to reform the way it does just about everything.

State government relies too much on press secretaries, communications directors, political staffs and middle managers.

If a department head cannot speak for him or her self, then he or she should not be a department head. Taxpayers should not be paying for the re-election campaigns of politicians. Let the politicians run for re-election on their own dime. Tax dollars should go to the people who work on the front lines like troopers, prison guards, and teachers; the people who do the actual work.

Every state worker should be cross trained. A general knowledge of the services offered by other state agencies would make each worker more productive. Workers would become citizen ambassadors; helping Iowans find their way through the state government maze. Cross training is used in business to create better customer service and greater efficiency. There is no reason it cannot work in state government.

Finally, Iowa needs a Sunset Law. Under such a law, an expiration date is placed on all new state programs. When the expiration date is reached a bipartisan citizens group meets to review whether the program is still needed. If the answer is no, the program is abolished. Twenty states have enacted similar laws.

A smaller, smarter and more service oriented government will markedly improve Iowa’s business climate and help create good jobs.

Vote could be sooner than 2012!

The media is incorrectly saying the earliest the Iowa Constitution could be amended is 2012.

It is true that it is difficult to amend the Iowa Constitution. However, the media has only been talking about one of the ways---where the question must be approved by two consecutive session of the General Assembly and then placed before the voters.

Those who wrote the Iowa Constitution put a second mechanism in place. It allows voters every 10 years at a general election to bypass the Legislature and call a meeting to propose amendments to the state’s core legal document.

The question will next be presented to Iowans in November 2010.

If Iowans vote for holding a convention, the Legislature is required in the next session to approve a law establishing a system to elect delegates to the gathering. Amendments proposed by the convention would go before the voters for their approval “at such a time as the general assembly shall provide,” says Article X of the Iowa Constitution.

If voters approve holding a convention in 2010, the proposed amendments theoretically could go on the ballot sooner than 2012.

In a previous post, I said voters should approve holding a Constitutional Convention. It is necessary to require the Legislature and Governor to abide by laws that they pass for everyone else---specifically Iowa’s open meeting law.

The recent news from Des Moines gives even more reason for voters to approve holding a convention. The people deserve a vote on two additional amendments:

1) Should marriage be defined as between a man and a woman? 2) Should tax increases require a two thirds vote of the Iowa Legislature?