The Governor's SAGE

Yesterday Gov. Gibbons signed the executive order creating the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission, with the following purpose:

"The SAGE Commission shall make recommendations that will: identify areas of government spending where savings can be found; identify areas where increased efficiencies in state government operations can be found; and identify means to improve state governmental services to citizens. The specific areas of state government reviewed shall be within the discretion of the SAGE Commission."

It sounds nice, but will they accomplish anything? Most of these commissions have a great mission statement but too often do not accomplish much of anything. One bold move is that Gibbons put in the Executive Order that all members of this commission actually have to have business experience to advise the government on how to run more like a business.

What a great concept. Usually you would just put a bunch of bureaucrats in the room, pay them overtime or comp time to push paperwork around, and then applaud them when they come up with a list of recommendations that do not really change anything. Business people tend to look for solutions that actually work first, and not worry as much about what is best for the bureaucratic machine.

To bridge the gap between private sector business and bureaucratic roadblocks, Gibbons has recruited Bruce James to chair the commission. As the U.S. Public Printer, James used his private sector printing experience to update and streamline the government printing processes.

Nice work on this one, Governor.